CHILDREN’S GUARDIAN AMENDMENT (CHILD SAFE SCHEME) BILL 2021
Second Reading Debate
Ms JODIE HARRISON (Charlestown) (10:46): I lead for the Opposition in debate on the Children's Guardian Amendment (Child Safe Scheme) Bill 2021. The bill seeks to embed a child‑focused and child safe culture within the organisations that engage in child‑related work. It has been brought forward by the Government in response to the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. The royal commission revealed the horrors children in Australia were subjected to by the very institutions that purportedly existed to protect them. It shone a light on the lengths these institutions were capable of going to in order to protect themselves from rightful scrutiny and criminal investigation, and it exposed just how far these institutions were willing to go to in order to cover up the crimes of those who abused the young.
Indeed, some of these organisations are still clearly failing to come to terms with the crimes inflicted on children in their care and in their name. Not only were these children failed by the very institutions that were meant to protect them; they were failed by successive governments at every level. We must never allow this to happen again. Children's safety and their best interests must be at the core of an institution's operations and be well supported by a well‑informed community. The final report from the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, published in December 2017, made 409 recommendations. The final report said:
All institutions should uphold the rights of the child. Consistent with Article 3 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, all institutions should act with the best interests of the child as a primary consideration. In order to achieve this, institutions should implement the Child Safe Standards identified by the Royal Commission.
To begin with, this bill will change the objects of the Children's Guardian Act to include embedding child safe standards as the primary framework that guides child safe practices in organisations in New South Wales. It will also embed connection to family and community for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children as a guiding principle with the ultimate goal of the child feeling safe and secure in their identity. The bill will enshrine into law 10 child safe standards as recommended by the royal commission.
The first standard is that child safety is embedded in institutional leadership, governance and culture. This standard speaks to the importance of a child safe culture being imbedded in every level of an organisation, including its leaders and its governance. Leaders play a critical role in maintaining an institutional culture where children's best interests, respect for their rights and their protection from harm are at the heart of all the organisation's operations. This standard puts the responsibility to champion a child safe culture in an organisation's people and practices at the core of its operations. It will see staff and volunteers comply with a code of conduct and there will be a focus on preventing, identifying and mitigating risks to children.
The second standard is that children participate in decisions affecting them and are taken seriously. This standard reflects the fact that children are safer when institutions acknowledge and teach them about their right to be heard, listened to and taken seriously. Enabling children and young people to understand, identify and raise their safety concerns with a trusted adult and to feel safe within an institution is important. This standard provides the opportunity for a child to participate in child-friendly ways in the decisions that affect their lives. It will ensure that staff and volunteers are attuned to signs of harm and will facilitate child-friendly ways for children to communicate and raise their concerns.
The third standard is that families and communities are informed and involved. This standard observes article 18 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which states that parents, carers or significant others with caring responsibilities have the primary responsibility for the upbringing and development of their child. This standard will allow for families and the community to have a say through open and two‑way communication about an organisation's child safety approach, its policies and its practices and will ensure that they are informed about the organisation's operations and governance.
The fourth standard is that equity is upheld and diverse needs are taken into account. Equity and non‑discrimination are central tenets of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which emphasises a commitment to fulfil a child's rights irrespective of such matters as race, sex, religion or disability. This standard acknowledges that child safe spaces must recognise each child's diverse circumstances, with particular attention to the needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, children with disability and children from culturally diverse backgrounds.
The fifth standard is to ensure people working with children are suitable and supported. Child safe human resources [HR] management through screening, recruitment and ongoing performance review can and does play an important role in protecting children from harm. This standard will ensure a child safety focus, starting from the recruitment and induction phases so that staff and volunteers are aware of their child safe responsibilities, including reporting obligations. The implementation of HR policies and procedures that consider this standard also sends a very clear message to applicants who may not have the best interests of a child at heart that the organisation is indeed a child safe organisation.
The sixth standard is that processes to respond to complaints of child abuse are child focused. A child‑focused complaints process is an important strategy for helping children and others in institutions make complaints. This standard will ensure that not only do staff, volunteers and families understand there is a complaint‑handling system that is effective and that complaints are taken seriously but that also this is understood by the children. It will see child safe institutions respond to complaints immediately in order to protect children at risk and address complaints promptly, thoroughly and fairly.
The seventh standard is that staff are equipped with the knowledge, skills and awareness to keep children safe through continual education and training. A child safe organisation promotes and provides regular ongoing development opportunities for its staff and volunteers through education and training. This standard will ensure that staff are alert to the nature and indicators of child maltreatment, particularly organisational child abuse, and that staff and volunteers are supported to develop practical skills in protecting children and responding to disclosures. The eighth standard is that physical and online environments minimise the opportunity for abuse to occur. Some physical and online environments can pose a risk to children. This standard will reduce risks by analysing and addressing both physical and online risks without compromising a child's right to privacy and healthy development.
The ninth standard is that implementation of the Child Safe Standards is continuously reviewed and improved. Child safe institutions know it is a significant challenge to maintain a safe environment for children in a dynamic institution. Vigilance is required to put systems in place and to frequently monitor and improve their performance against the Child Safe Standards. This standard will allow for organisations to identify systemic failures and will inform continued improvements to their child safe practices. Finally, the tenth standard is that policies and procedures document how the organisation is child safe. A child safe organisation has policies and procedures that set out how it maintains a child safe environment. This is a crucial aspect of facilitating an institution's commitment to maintaining child safety. This standard will serve to provide access to easy‑to‑understand information that demonstrates a best practice model that will be championed by the organisation's leaders.
The adoption of the 10 standards will be mandatory for all child safe organisations. Child safe organisations as specified in schedule 1 to the bill include local health districts, non-government schools, approved education and care services, statutory health corporations, affiliated health organisations, NSW Ambulance, the TAFE Commission, any agency providing residential care for children, religious bodies that provide services to children or through which adults have contact with children, a club or other body providing programs or services of a recreational or sporting nature for children in which workers are required to hold a Working With Children Check and any other entity as prescribed by the regulations.
The implementation of this legislation will see new regulatory approaches for the Children's Guardian that improve systems for the prevention, identification, response to and reporting of child abuse through monitoring and reporting on compliance with the Child Safe Standards by child safe organisations and child safe prescribed agencies. Under the legislation, prescribed agencies will also be required to work with the Children's Guardian to develop and implement a child safe action plan that covers the agency's full scope of child‑related operations. The action plans will aim to build awareness in the community about child safety, to build the capability of child safe organisations to implement the standards, and to improve the safety of children. The Children's Guardian will also be given new powers that will allow it to investigate complaints and concerns about a child safe organisation's implementation of the Child Safe Standards. Additionally, the Children's Guardian will have enforcement powers to ensure compliance with the Child Safe Standards.
The bill has financial implications. Certainly the Children's Guardian will see a significant workload increase in relation to supporting agencies in developing child safe action plans, in the approval of those action plans and in the enforcement of the requirements of the bill. Child safe agencies have responsibilities to develop the action plans and to provide information and support to child safe organisations. Child safe organisations have compliance responsibilities in relation to the Child Safe Standards and ensuring that their operations implement those standards. The additional responsibilities that the bill places on the Children's Guardian, the agencies and the organisations have to be considered. It is incumbent on the Government to ensure that the Children's Guardian and child safe agencies are resourced appropriately, and we on this side of the House will be keeping an eye on that aspect and making sure it occurs.
Children should be protected from those who would seek to do them harm and the Government must ensure that every institution, organisation or business that has any dealing with a child is a safe place for children. A cultural change is required to ensure that children are valued and that their rights are respected by every organisation that delivers services to children. Creating a safe environment for children is complex and multifaceted, but I believe this bill does go some way towards achieving that. It is essential that the royal commission's recommendations are implemented. The Opposition does not oppose the bill.
This speech was part of a debate on the Children's Guardian Amendment (Child Safe Scheme) Bill 2021, which you can learn more about here. You can read the rest of the debate on Hansard.
