Subjects: Working with Children Checks.
FAUZIAH IBRAHIM, HOST: Australia's childcare safety system is facing its biggest shake up in years with new laws, compliance crackdowns and calls for tougher national standards. Well, the changes due by year's end will boost real-time information sharing and tighten eligibility criteria for childcare workers. We're now joined by Attorney-General Michelle Rowland, who joins us now from Sydney. A very good morning to you, Attorney-General.
MICHELLE ROWLAND, ATTORNEY-GENERAL: Good morning.
IBRAHIM: Now, you have acknowledged that the current system in place now, it's fractious, it is complex, it involves various departments and funding systems as well. Are you able to guarantee us that we will see reforms implemented in the next four months?
ROWLAND: Well, I'm very pleased that yesterday, at the first meeting of this Parliament of the Standing Council of Attorneys-General, that the states and territories agreed to work towards implementation of a very important element of reform, and that is that where an individual is refused or has a Working with Children Check revoked in one jurisdiction, then that will apply to all jurisdictions. So, a banned in one, banned in all. The states and territories have agreed to work towards implementation of that by the end of the year. We recognise how important this is to get it right and to make sure that we make our community safer for our young people.
IBRAHIM: You have also admitted that consistency, of course, is key when it comes to Working with Children Checks. This is, of course, to ensure the safety in the child care centres as well. Yet you're not pursuing a standardised national working with children check. Why not?
ROWLAND: Well, as you explained, we do have states and territories who are responsible right now for their own systems. They are bespoke, they have different IT capabilities, in some cases, different Ministers and departments and funding streams. There's some 6 million holders of Working with Children's Checks right around Australia. What we are seeking to do is to make that system better and to get those systems talking to one another. So, we have, for example, real-time checking capability, for example, on areas such as convictions, but also some other important information that might go to the type of conduct that a state or territory would need to know about if they're assessing someone for suitability.
We are not seeking to reinvent the wheel; we are seeking to make this better in the most expeditious time frame possible. Because, as I'm sure your viewers will know, this was a recommendation in 2015 coming out of the Royal Commission. Successive Commonwealth and state and territory governments have failed our young people and have failed parents. That's why we've seen some of the horrific incidents that we have in recent times. Will this guarantee that everything will be improved? I can be confident that it will have an improvement. This is but one element, however, of an important suite of reforms that we're undertaking, but we know that nefarious individuals will seek to exploit loopholes or forum shop where they have the opportunity, and we're seeking to close those gaps.
IBRAHIM: Attorney-General, you have said that all the jurisdictions have agreed to stronger information sharing to ensure criminal history is captured and, of course, shared in real time. No doubt that will be very helpful. I just want to point out to you that Joshua Dale Brown worked in 23 centres. He did not have a police record, he was not known to police at all, and now he's been charged with 70 offences. So, how would a national register actually help ensure that the children stay safe in childcare centres, particularly if staff don't have any police records or complaints made against them?
ROWLAND: No, that is a fair question. We do know, unfortunately, that where individuals such as those operate within a state and have not activated those kinds of red flags, that they unfortunately do go undetected, as this individual did. I know that Victoria has its own evaluation and review of that underway now that will be released imminently, so we will await to see the findings of that. But I should be clear to your viewers that what these reforms won't do, is it won't prevent every individual who might seek to exploit those loopholes from being able to do so.
We will unfortunately have situations where people such as the individual that you mentioned, have been operating within a state. But at the same time, we have been implementing, as a government, led by Education Minister Jason Clare, a series of other reforms that are aimed at precisely the situation that is described in that instance. So, this is an important tool in terms of reforming, Working with Children Checks. It's not the only one. But it is important that we have the Commonwealth and the states and territories all working together to achieve the best outcomes here.
IBRAHIM: Attorney-General, no doubt there are many, many parents who are very concerned right now and very nervous about sending their kids to childcare centres. What would you say to them, to these parents who are concerned that their children may be at risk and they may not have any confidence that their authorities have their children's interest at heart because bureaucracy is getting in the way?
ROWLAND: I can certainly empathise with those concerns. We're here in North West Sydney right now, where so many families right around Australia are getting their children ready for sport and other extracurricular activities, where they're placed in the care of adults who will have in many cases Working with Children Checks. But it is important that we improve this system so there is that improved confidence and the cases that we have seen are absolutely horrific. My heart as I'm sure all Australians do go out to those parents.
We have to be forward looking to make this better to have the best opportunities to make sure that these kind of instances don't happen again. I will also end on this - there are the vast majority of people who hold Working with Children Checks who work in childcare centres who work with young people are good people and they should not be ostracised as a group for the sins of individuals such as we've seen. It is incumbent on governments at a state and territory level but also the Commonwealth to all be working together and that's exactly what the Albanese Government is doing.
IBRAHIM: Attorney-General, Michelle Rowland, we thank you so much for taking the time to speak with us this morning.
ROWLAND: Pleasure.
