Attorney General vows to speed up improvements to working with children check system after abuse allegations

Australia’s Attorney General has vowed to speed up changes to improve the Working with Children Check system by the end of the year, amid a spate of sickening childcare abuse allegations.

Michelle Rowland conceded “successive governments at all levels” had let down children abused in institutions by acting too slowly to implement recommendations made a decade ago.

Speaking after her first convened meeting of State and Territory Attorney Generals on Friday, she said jurisdictions had pledged to accelerate reforms to fix the lack of coordination, which she estimated could take up to 12 months.

Ms Rowland backflipped on the proposed timeline after advocates and the Opposition expressed dismay at further delaying the reform, warning it would leave children at risk, saying it would be completed by the end of the year.

Under the agreed plan, a person banned from holding a working with children check in one jurisdiction won’t be able to apply for one anywhere else.

“Nefarious individuals have been shopping around the Working With Children Check system and exploiting loopholes,” she said.

“These changes are actually arising from a 2015 recommendation of a Royal Commission … 2015 is 10 years ago.

“They (impacted children and parents) have been let down by successive governments, at all levels. We’re here to make that right.

“We now have a moment, as a country, as a federation, to get this done.”

Recent cases of child abuse in Australian childcare centres — including male childcare workers who jumped between multiple centres and accumulated dozens of child sex abuse charges — shocked the nation and have prompted calls for urgent reforms.

Ms Rowland said all attorney generals would work to introduce more consistency between jurisdictions but would not create one standard, nationwide “working with children” check.

She said while the Federal Government would explore the proposal in the future, a single uniform system was tricky to establish as each State and Territory has its own criminal justice system.

“When we talk about harmonisation, we are not looking at a scheme to make every single State exactly the same,” she said.

“We are not looking to redo individual State systems. We are looking for consistency.”

Shadow early learning minister Jonathon Duniam said it was concerning there wasn’t a “truly national system” and offenders could still “slip through the cracks”.

The Tasmanian Liberal Senator said the Opposition was “ready to work with the government” on improving safety, admitting previous Coalition governments had also “dropped the ball” on the issue.

“This is not about blaming the current government or the last government, this is about us as leaders getting it right now. We have a problem now that needs to be addressed,” he said.

“In every State and Territory Parliament across this country, measures need to be put in place immediately, no excuses, no delays.”

The four-month target comes after Ms Rowland surprised the Opposition, the sector and parenting groups earlier on Friday by estimating it could take a year to achieve.

“To achieve banned in one, banned in all, I would like to think that this is something that is certainly capable of being done within, certainly, the next 12 months,” she had told ABC breakfast radio.

Opposition leader Sussan Ley accused Ms Rowland of showing a “complete lack of urgency” for proposing a 12 months timeline before even meeting with State counterparts.

The Coalition had given bipartisan support to the Albanese Government in the first two sitting weeks to pass childcare-related legislation, which included cutting Federal funding for non-compliant centres.

“The PM has talked a big game on fixing these issues. We’ve done our bit in the Federal parliament to work with the government to pass new laws but it is now up to the Prime Minister to lead and finish the job,” Ms Ley said.

“The States and Territories need to get their act together and accelerate this critically important piece of work to protect our kids.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Friday said recent reports of sex abuse in child care centres across Australia had been “every parent’s worst nightmare” and a “wake up call”.

“Government should have done better. We’re doing what we can at the Commonwealth level to make sure that we improve safety,” he said.

Education Minister Jason Clare is expected to raise the issue with his State and Territory counterparts at a meeting he will convene next week.

Among issues addressed at that meeting are the role of CCTV in centres, mandatory child safety training for workers and speeding up the development of a national register.

Independent advocacy group For Parents labelled the issue a “national crisis” and called for the government to expand the Child Care Subsidy to cover alternative care arrangements.

For Parents co-founders Jen Fleming said it would allow parents more choice over who is caring for their children, such as options like nannies, au pairs, grandparents and co-working spaces.

“Parents want choice. We want flexible and affordable options for our children, and we want a government that prioritises the voices of families over bureaucracy and vested interests. The status quo is no longer acceptable,” Ms Fleming added.

Australian Greens early education and care spokeswoman Steph Hodgins-May said the minor party would push for a Senate Inquiry into childcare safety crisis when Federal Parliament resumes later this month.

The Greens had also supported the government’s Bill to cut subsidies from centres that repeatedly fail to meet quality standards, but Senator Hodgins-May said more needed to be done.

“Tinkering with the subsidy system will not keep our children safe. We need more than reactive tools to act after harm occurs — we need leadership to prevent that harm in the first place,” she said.

The proposed inquiry would examine the regulatory system, workforce, and whether the current subsidy model supports high-quality care.

The union representing teachers in early childhood education and care in NSW and the ACT welcomed the united effort to standardise Working With Children Checks.

“We look forward to detailed consultation about the proposal. For example, it is unclear if the reforms would incorporate all existing WWC requirements, under state law, which apply more broadly than early childhood education and care,” Carol Matthews, a branch secretary for Independent Education Union of Australia, said.