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Vic Reportable Conduct Scheme: 1 July 2017 Deadline

28/09/16
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In yet another move to help prevent child abuse, the Victorian Government has started to initiate reform to overhaul its oversight of organisations that care for children. According to the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), a reportable conduct scheme will be introduced from 1 July 2017. Under the scheme, institutions including schools will report on suspected abuse to one centralised body that will also have the power to initiate investigations and assess entities for compliance purposes.

The introduction of the Child Wellbeing and Safety Amendment (Oversight and Enforcement of Child Safe Standards) Bill 2016 (the Bill) to the Victorian Parliament on 13 September 2016 indicates that a formal reportable conduct scheme is not far away.

Betrayal of Trust Inquiry 

The reportable conduct scheme is a result of the government investigation into child abuse, the Victorian Betrayal of Trust Inquiry (the Inquiry). The Inquiry was introduced to uncover the endemic child abuse that went unreported in institutions for many years. From the findings, there were three broad areas for improvement:

  • prevention;
  • response; and
  • access to justice.

To enforce these changes, sweeping reforms were flagged for criminal law and civil law and the Inquiry also sought the formation of child safe organisations.

Victorian Child Safe Standards

Following the Inquiry, the Victorian Child Safe Standards (the Standards) were introduced. The Standards took effect on 1 2016 and are comprised of seven Standards and three Principles. To understand the obligations in the Standards, the Government published 'An Overview of the Child Safe Standards'.

The Child Safe Standards require the strengthening of how organisations approach the prevention of, and response to, child abuse. They also require organisations that provide services for children to engage in cultural change, so that protecting children from abuse is embedded in the everyday thinking and practices of leaders, staff and volunteers. This represents a shift in government and community attitudes towards child protection requirements from being ‘just a compliance issue’ to now being a cultural issue, meaning that organisations (including schools) must adopt an entirely different approach.

As part of this stage of reform, the Victorian Government has also accepted the Inquiry's recommendation to create a new 'reportable conduct' scheme for organisations with a high level of responsibility for children (i.e. providers of education and health services to children), requiring them to centrally report all allegations of child abuse involving their staff to the Commission for Children and Young People.

What is reportable conduct?

Currently, there is no actual reportable scheme in Victoria. Legislation needs to be introduced by the Victorian Government to define the scope and operation of the reportable conduct scheme. However, the DHHS has shared a fact sheet which provides an overview of the intended scheme. Reportable conduct will include allegations of child abuse against staffers working in relevant organisations. Misconduct that is considered by the scheme includes sexting, inappropriate physical conduct, grooming and other conduct that crosses professional boundaries with children.

A DHHS representative has told School Governance that the reportable conduct bill is expected to be introduced to Victorian Parliament between late 2016 and early 2017.

A child protection reportable conduct scheme is not a new concept in Australia. A scheme currently operates in NSW, and the ACT has recently introduced legislation to follow suit.

In NSW the Ombudsman oversees child protection. According to the Ombudsman Act 1974 (NSW) reportable conduct is any:

  • sexual offence or sexual misconduct committed against, with or in the presence of a child - including a child pornography offence;
  • assault, ill-treatment or neglect of a child; and
  • behaviour that causes psychological harm to a child – even if the child has consented to the behaviour.

In the ACT, the Government has mirrored the NSW Government's legislative reform. The Reportable Conduct and Information Sharing Legislation Amendment Act 2016 (ACT) was passed by the ACT Parliament on 2 August 2016. As we discussed in our previous article ‘ACT updates child protection reporting mechanisms: new reportable conduct scheme for schools’ we made the comment that:

'under the changes to the Ombudsman Act the Ombudsman will be empowered with child protection oversight duties. Reports of possible child abuse as a result of employee misconduct will be directed to the Ombudsman, who will assess and monitor the potential abuse and assess the investigation process that follows. This new regime is intended to safeguard against further child abuse offenders, who in the past were able to slip through the cracks.' 

Current duties of the Commission for Children and Young People (Victoria)

In Victoria, the Ombudsman will not form part of the reportable conduct scheme. Instead, the Commission for Children and Young People (the Commission) will take on this responsibility. The Commission has various current responsibilities, including providing advice to the government about policies and practices relating to the safety of children, promoting the interests of vulnerable children in Victoria, and providing Ministers with child safety advice.

Proposed powers of the Commission for Children and Young People (Victoria) 

The Bill amends the Child Wellbeing and Safety Act 2005 (Vic), which is the legislation that created the Child Safe Standards.  In the proposed new reportable conduct scheme the Commission will be the centralised body that will undertake investigations and assessments of organisations such as schools, which are required to implement the Child Safe Standards.

The Bill, if passed, gives the Commission the power to:

  • initiate investigations (complementary to the Police force, not in conflict with) and report on trends;
  • liaise with the Working with Children Check Unit to ensure eligibility for potential staffers;
  • disseminate and share information with key organisations such as DHHS and VRQA;
  • inquire into the safety systems of all relevant organisations; and
  • work with other organisations to respond to allegations of abuse.

In more detail, the Bill states that the Commission can:

  • request any document from a relevant entity;
  • inspect the premises of a relevant entity where it receives consent and gives seven days' notice;
  • in exceptional circumstances, inspect premises without consent or notice;
  • provide non-compliant entities with a notice to comply; and
  • apply to the court when the relevant entity has failed to comply and request that the entity pay a pecuniary penalty.

'Relevant entities' in the Bill refers to the organisations governed by the Child Safe Standards.

Summary 

As discussed, a Victorian reportable conduct scheme does not exist at present, but the introduction of the Bill earlier this month to increase the Commission's powers is the Victorian Government's first step towards this. Schools need to be aware of the Commission and the unfolding legislative changes and keep in mind the 1 July 2017 compliance deadline. The DHHS will provide further guidance on its website and the website of the Commission for Children and Young People in the coming months.

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