Albanese Government announces $37 million to support Working with Children Check Reform

The Albanese Government is committed to protecting vulnerable Australians, particularly our children and young people, which is why we have today announced $37 million over 5 years from 2025-26 to implement the National Continuous Checking Capability.

This capability will provide continuous, near-real time monitoring of national changes to criminal history information on Working with Children Check (WWCC) holders, and states and territories will be able to progressively onboard to the NCCC pilot from the end of 2025.

The Commonwealth’s investment forms part of a National Agreement on WWCCs, which was endorsed by the Standing Council of Attorneys-General (SCAG) in Brisbane today. The Agreement sets out the pathway and timeframes to deliver a national approach to WWCCs and improve the safety of children.

Attorneys-General also noted the significant progress made towards implementing national mutual recognition of negative WWCC decisions, first announced in August this year.

Five jurisdictions have already taken the vitally important step of recognising interstate negative decisions, and the remaining three have committed to introduce legislation this year.

This means a person rejected for a WWCC in one jurisdiction will be rejected in other jurisdictions – banned in one, banned in all.

The National Agreement also prioritises work in achieving consistency across all jurisdictions on the risk frameworks required to assess whether someone receives a WWCC and under what circumstances they should be excluded. This will remove the existing inconsistencies and gaps between jurisdictions and strengthen WWCCs nationally.

Attorneys-General agreed to further priority actions, including identifying clear information sharing pathways between jurisdictions.

WWCC reform is part of significant work underway to improve child safety outcomes and aligns with child safety work across the Commonwealth.

This includes work under the National Strategy to Prevent and Respond to Child Sexual Abuse 2021-2030, which considers child sexual abuse in all settings, including within families, online and within organisations. The reforms also support Education Ministers’ commitment to key safety reforms in the Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) sector.

Over the longer term, this work will contribute to strengthening worker screening across the care and support economy, enhancing safety for vulnerable Australians.

Quotes attributable to the Attorney-General, Hon Michelle Rowland MP:

“Today, all governments endorsed an agreement to deliver national reform of the Working with Children Checks system. The agreement sets out six priority actions and timeframes to strengthen child safety through a consistent national approach.

“Child safety is a top priority for the Albanese Government. That’s why we are progressing a coordinated and ambitious reform agenda to achieve meaningful consistency across jurisdictions for when a person is suitable to hold a WWCC and when they should be excluded. This addresses existing gaps and inconsistencies and will improve protections for children and young people.

“The Albanese Government is investing $37 million over five years to establish the National Continuous Checking Capability. This system will provide continuous, near real-time monitoring of changes to criminal history information for WWCC holders, significantly strengthening safeguards for children and young people.

“I look forward to continuing to work with my state and territory counterparts to deliver this ambitious reform agenda and ensure our children and young people are safe from harm.”