The Attorney-General of Victoria, Martin Pakula, has proposed a new child protection Bill in the Victorian Parliament. If passed, it will continue the State's child protection reforms by introducing new laws to enhance the Victorian Registration and Qualification's Authority (VRQA)'s regulatory powers with respect to child protection procedures in non-government schools.

As reported by The Age, a second Bill was also introduced which will facilitate claims for compensation by victims of child abuse by removing limitations on bringing a court action for child abuse claims.

The Bills are still subject to debate.

New Government, new changes

The Victorian Government is continuing its progressive approach to strengthening child protection laws in that State. 2014 was a busy year which saw the introduction of new offences of failing to disclose sexual offences and failing to protect a child from a sexual offence (see our article). It also led the nation in introducing sexting laws.

The Education and Training Reform Amendment (Child Safe Schools) Bill 2015 (Vic) (the Safe Schools Bill) is the latest legislative reform initiative by the Victorian Government to increase the powers of the VRQA in response to the Family and Community Development Committee of Parliament's 'Betrayal of Trust Report (the Report)' released in 2013.

The previous Napthine Government proposed changes to the VRQA's powers last year prior to the Victorian State Election with the Education and Training Reform Amendment (Miscellaneous) Bill 2014 (Vic), which we wrote about in a two part series entitled 'New Reforms for Victorian Non-Government Schools Part One and Two', however that Bill was not passed by that Government.

The new Safe Schools Bill is the initiative of the recently elected Andrews Government and it proposes new laws which will require schools to implement policies for managing the risk of child sexual abuse. These requirements are additional to a school’s existing reporting obligations and there are similarities to the Napthine Government's proposals, which we discussed in Part Two of our earlier series.

There are three components to these changes. The Safe Schools Bill will change the law relating to non-government schools. We anticipate that the VRQA will then release new guidelines. The Minister of Education will also announce Ministerial Orders to give effect to the changes.

New child protection requirement

Currently, the extent of a non-government school's registration obligations to comply with child safety provisions in Victoria is set out in various pieces of legislation, such as the Children, Youth and Families Act 2005 (Vic). The Education and Training Reform Regulations 2007 (Vic), requires that a non-government school 'must ensure that the care, safety and welfare of all students attending the schools is in accordance with any applicable State or Commonwealth laws and all staff employed at the school are advised of their obligations under those laws'. Each school may comply with these requirements in its own way.

According to the Safe Schools Bill, a new section 4.3.1(6)(d) will be inserted into the Education and Training Reform Act 2006 (Vic) to make it a prescribed minimum standard for registration that non-government schools must implement 'policies, procedures, measures and practices in accordance with a Ministerial Order for managing the risk of child abuse including:

• the implementation of minimum standards for a child safe environment; and
• responding to allegations of child abuse committed against a child enrolled at the school or committed by an employee or student, contractor or volunteer of the school or other person connected with the school.'

According to the Explanatory Memorandum, it is anticipated that the compulsory school policies and procedures will 'promote the adoption by schools of better preventative measures to minimise the risk of child abuse in the school context, and the broader community'. The new requirements, if passed by Parliament, would not detract from existing duties of schools to report allegations of child abuse under the Children, Youth and Families Act 2005 (Vic) and the Crimes Act 1958 (Vic).

The Bill also includes a definition of 'child abuse', a term which has, to date, not otherwise been present in Victorian law.

Under the Bill, the definition of 'child abuse' includes:

• any act committed against a person under 18 involving a sexual offence or a grooming offence; and
• physical violence, serious emotional or psychological harm or exploitation (not including reasonable discipline, management or care); and
• the serious neglect of a person under 18.

What's new for Victorian schools?

If the Bill is passed, non-government schools will need to ensure that they have a governance framework in place which addresses the new requirements under 4.3.1(6)(d). Schools that already have a child protection program will need to review their existing policies and procedures to ensure that they meet the content requirements to be prescribed by a yet to be published Ministerial Order. Existing policies addressing mandatory reporting obligations will also need to be reviewed to successfully integrate any new policies or concepts, including the new definition of 'child abuse'.

The additional obligations to be imposed upon non-government schools by the Bill are complemented by proposed new provisions to increase the VRQA's powers to review and evaluate the operation of a school to ensure the new requirements are quickly being met.

The VRQA's new powers include:

• the ability to arrange, at any time, a specific review of a school's compliance if it believes that there are matters concerning student safety which require urgent action to be taken by the school or in response to serious non-compliance, or repeated non-compliance; and
• allowing the VRQA to accept an enforceable undertaking from a school or impose interim conditions on a school in relation to meeting compliance requirements with minimum standards.

The VRQA's existing authority to suspend or cancel a school's registration, prohibit the enrolment of new students, require a school to report non-compliance to parents or impose conditions upon registration remains but the procedures associated with enforcing those actions are amended.

This (not so new) trend

The proposed changes to the Victorian non-government school registration requirements require schools to improve their governance systems and procedures. These changes echo some of the changes recently passed in Queensland, described in our article, which emphasise greater governance of non-government schools through the mandatory development of child protection policies and procedures.

Although these reforms may have had a false start, interrupted by the Victorian election, there is no doubt that they are coming. This is the case especially given that the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Abuse will report in 2017.