6.04 Final Report

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.

6.05 Final Report

The Child Safe Standards are:

1. child safety is embedded in institutional leadership, governance and culture
2. children participate in decisions affecting them and are taken seriously
3. families and communities are informed and involved
4. equity is upheld and diverse needs are taken into account
5. people working with children are suitable and supported
6. processes to respond to complaints of child sexual abuse are child focused
7. staff are equipped with the knowledge, skills and awareness to keep children safe through continual education and training
8. physical and online environments minimise the opportunity for abuse to occur
9. implementation of the Child Safe Standards is continuously reviewed and improved
10. policies and procedures document how the institution is child safe.

6.06 Final Report

Institutions should be guided by the following core components when implementing the Child Safe Standards.

Standard 1: Child safety is embedded in institutional leadership, governance and culture.

1. The institution publicly commits to child safety and leaders champion a child safe culture.
2. Child safety is a shared responsibility at all levels of the institution.
3. Risk management strategies focus on preventing, identifying and mitigating risks to children.
4. Staff and volunteers comply with a code of conduct that sets clear behavioural standards towards children.
5. Staff and volunteers understand their obligations on information sharing and record keeping.

Standard 2: Children participate in decisions affecting them and are taken seriously.

1. Children are able to express their views and are provided opportunities to participate in decisions that affect their lives.
2. The importance of friendships is recognised and support from peers is encouraged, helping children feel safe and be less isolated.
3. Children can access sexual abuse prevention programs and information.
4. Staff and volunteers are attuned to signs of harm and facilitate child-friendly ways for children to communicate and raise their concerns.

Standard 3: Families and communities are informed and involved.

1. Families have the primary responsibility for the upbringing and development of their child and participate in decisions affecting their child.
2. The institution engages in open, two-way communication with families and communities about its child safety approach and relevant information is accessible.
3. Families and communities have a say in the institution’s policies and practices.
4. Families and communities are informed about the institution’s operations and governance.

Standard 4: Equity is upheld and diverse needs are taken into account.

1. The institution actively anticipates children’s diverse circumstances and responds effectively to those with additional vulnerabilities.
2. All children have access to information, support and complaints processes.
3. The institution pays particular attention to the needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, children with disability, and children from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.

Standard 5: People working with children are suitable and supported.

1. Recruitment, including advertising and screening, emphasises child safety.
2. Relevant staff and volunteers have Working with Children Checks.
3. All staff and volunteers receive an appropriate induction and are aware of their child safety responsibilities, including reporting obligations.
4. Supervision and people management have a child safety focus.

Standard 6: Processes to respond to complaints of child sexual abuse are child-focused.

1. The institution has a child-focused complaint handling system that is understood by children, staff, volunteers and families.
2. The institution has an effective complaint handling policy and procedure which clearly outline roles and responsibilities, approaches to dealing with different types of complaints and obligations to act and report.
3. Complaints are taken seriously, responded to promptly and thoroughly, and reporting, privacy and employment law obligations are met.

Standard 7: Staff are equipped with the knowledge, skills and awareness to keep children safe through continual education and training.

1. Relevant staff and volunteers receive training on the nature and indicators of child maltreatment, particularly institutional child sexual abuse.
2. Staff and volunteers receive training on the institution’s child safe practices and child protection.
3. Relevant staff and volunteers are supported to develop practical skills in protecting children and responding to disclosures.

Standard 8: Physical and online environments minimise the opportunity for abuse to occur.

1. Risks in the online and physical environments are identified and mitigated without compromising a child’s right to privacy and healthy development.
2. The online environment is used in accordance with the institution’s code of conduct and relevant policies.

Standard 9: Implementation of the Child Safe Standards is continuously reviewed and improved.

1. The institution regularly reviews and improves child safe practices.
2. The institution analyses complaints to identify causes and systemic failures to inform continuous improvement.

Standard 10: Policies and procedures document how the institution is child safe.

1. Policies and procedures address all Child Safe Standards.
2. Policies and procedures are accessible and easy to understand.
3. Best practice models and stakeholder consultation inform the development of policies and procedures.
4. Leaders champion and model compliance with policies and procedures.
5. Staff understand and implement the policies and procedures.

6.07 Final Report

The national Child Safe Standards developed by the Royal Commission and listed at recommendation 6.5 should be adopted as part of the new National Statement of Principles for Child Safe Organisations described by the Community Services Ministers' Meeting in November 2016. The National Statement of Principles for Child Safe Organisations should be endorsed by the Council of Australian Governments.

6.08 Final Report

State and territory governments should require all institutions in their jurisdictions that engage in child-related work to meet the Child Safe Standards identified by the Royal Commission at Recommendation 6.5.

6.09 - Final Report

Legislative requirements to comply with the Child Safe Standards should cover institutions that provide:

1. accommodation and residential services for children, including overnight excursions or stays
2. activities or services of any kind, under the auspices of a particular religious denomination or faith, through which adults have contact with children
3. childcare or childminding services
4. child protection services, including out-of-home care
5. activities or services where clubs and associations have a significant membership of, or involvement by, children
6. coaching or tuition services for children
7. commercial services for children, including entertainment or party services, gym or play facilities, photography services, and talent or beauty competitions
8. services for children with disability
9. education services for children
10. health services for children
11. justice and detention services for children, including immigration detention facilities
12. transport services for children, including school crossing services.

6.10 - Final Report

State and territory governments should ensure that:

1. an independent oversight body in each state and territory is responsible for monitoring and enforcing Child Safe Standards. Where appropriate, this should be an existing body.
2. the independent oversight body is able to delegate responsibility for monitoring and enforcing the Child Safe Standards to another state or territory government body, such as a sector regulator.
3. regulators take a responsive and risk-based approach when monitoring compliance with the Child Safe Standards and, where possible, utilise existing regulatory frameworks to monitor and enforce the Child Safety Standards.

6.11 - Final Report

Each independent state and territory oversight body should have the following additional functions:

1. provide advice and information on the Child Safe Standards to institutions and the community
2. collect, analyse and publish data on the child safe approach in that jurisdiction and provide that data to the proposed National Office for Child Safety
3. partner with peak bodies, professional standards bodies and/or sector leaders to work with institutions to enhance the safety of children
4. provide, promote or support education and training on the Child Safe Standards to build the capacity of institutions to be child safe
5. coordinate ongoing information exchange between oversight bodies relating to institutions’ compliance with the Child Safe Standards.

6.15 - Final Report

The Australian Government should develop a new National Framework for Child Safety in collaboration with state and territory governments. The Framework should:

1. commit governments to improving the safety of all children by implementing long-term child safety initiatives, with appropriate resources, and holding them to account
2. be endorsed by the Council of Australian Governments and overseen by a joint ministerial body
3. commence after the expiration of the current National Framework for Protecting Australia’s Children, no later than 2020
4. cover broader child safety issues, as well as specific initiatives to better prevent and respond to institutional child sexual abuse including initiatives recommended by the Royal Commission
5. include links to other related policy frameworks.

6.19 - Final Report

Ministers for education, through the Council of Australian Governments, should establish a nationally consistent curriculum for online safety education in schools. The Office of the eSafety Commissioner should be consulted on the design of the curriculum and contribute to the development of course content and approaches to delivery. The curriculum should:

1. be appropriately staged from Foundation year to Year 12 and be linked with related content areas to build behavioural skills as well as technical knowledge to support a positive and safe online culture
2. involve children and young people in the design, delivery and piloting of new online safety education, and update content annually to reflect evolving technologies, online behaviours and evidence of international best practice approaches
3. be tailored and delivered in ways that allow all Australian children and young people to reach, access and engage with online safety education, including vulnerable groups that may not access or engage with the school system.

6.21 - Final Report

Pre-service education and in-service staff training should be provided to support child-related institutions in creating safe online environments. The Office of the eSafety Commissioner should advise on and contribute to program design and content. These programs should be aimed at:

1. tertiary students studying university, technical and further education, and vocational education and training courses, before entering child-related occupations; and could be provided as a component of a broader program of child sexual abuse prevention education (see Recommendation 6.2)
2. staff and volunteers in schools and other child-related organisations, and could build on the existing web-based learning programs of the Office of the eSafety Commissioner.

6.23 - Final Report

State and territory education departments should consider introducing centralised mechanisms to support government and non-government schools when online incidents occur. This should result in appropriate levels of escalation and effective engagement with all relevant entities, such as the Office of the eSafety Commissioner, technical service providers and law enforcement.

Consideration should be given to:

1. adopting the promising model of the Queensland Department of Education and Training’s Cyber Safety and Reputation Management Unit, which provides advice and a centralised coordination function for schools, working in partnership with relevant entities to remove offensive online content and address other issues
2. strengthening or re-establishing multi-stakeholder forums and case-management for effective joint responses involving all relevant agencies, such as police, education, health and child protection.

6.24 - Final Report

In consultation with the eSafety Commissioner, police commissioners from states and territories and the Australian Federal Police should continue to ensure national capability for coordinated, best practice responses by law enforcement agencies to online child sexual abuse. This could include through:

1. establishing regular meetings of the heads of cybersafety units in all Australian police departments to ensure a consistent capacity to respond to emerging incidents and share best practice approaches, tools and resources
2. convening regular forums and conferences to bring together law enforcement, government, the technology industry, the community sector and other relevant
3. stakeholders to discuss emerging issues, set agendas and identify solutions to online child sexual abuse and exploitation
4. building capability across police departments, through in-service training for:
   1. frontline police officers to respond to public complaints relating to issues of online child sexual abuse or harmful sexual behaviours
   2. police officers who liaise with young people in school and community settings.

7.01 - Final Report

State and territory governments that do not have a mandatory reporter guide should introduce one and require its use by mandatory reporters.

7.02 - Final Report

Institutions and state and territory governments should provide mandatory reporters with access to experts who can provide timely advice on child sexual abuse reporting obligations.

7.03 - Final Report

State and territory governments should amend laws concerning mandatory reporting to child protection authorities to achieve national consistency in reporter groups. At a minimum, state and territory governments should also include the following groups of individuals as mandatory reporters in every jurisdiction:

1. out-of-home care workers (excluding foster and kinship/relative carers)
2. youth justice workers
3. early childhood workers
4. registered psychologists and school counsellors
5. people in religious ministry.

7.04 - Final Report

Laws concerning mandatory reporting to child protection authorities should not exempt persons in religious ministry from being required to report knowledge or suspicions formed, in whole or in part, on the basis of information disclosed in or in connection with a religious confession.

7.5 - Final Report

The Australian Government and state and territory governments should ensure that legislation provides comprehensive protection for individuals who make reports in good faith about child sexual abuse in institutional contexts. Such individuals should be protected from civil and criminal liability and from reprisals or other detrimental action as a result of making a complaint or report, including in relation to:

1. mandatory and voluntary reports to child protection authorities under child protection legislation
2. notifications concerning child abuse under the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law.

7.06 - Final Report

State and territory governments should amend child protection legislation to provide adequate protection for individuals who make complaints or reports in good faith to any institution engaging in child-related work about:

1. child sexual abuse within that institution or
2. the response of that institution to child sexual abuse.

7.07 - Final Report

Consistent with 'Child Safe Standard 6: Processes to respond to complaints of child sexual abuse are child focused', institutions should have a clear, accessible and child-focused complaint handling policy and procedure that sets out how the institution should respond to complaints of child sexual abuse. The complaint handling policy and procedure should cover:

1. making a complaint
2. responding to a complaint
3. investigating a complaint
4. providing support and assistance
5. achieving systemic improvements following a complaint.

7.08 - Final Report

Consistent with 'Child Safe Standard 1: Child safety is embedded in institutional leadership, governance and culture', institutions should have a clear code of conduct that:

1. outlines behaviours towards children that the institution considers unacceptable, including concerning conduct, misconduct or criminal conduct
2. includes a specific requirement to report any concerns, breaches or suspected breaches of the code to a person responsible for handling complaints in the institution or to an external authority when required by law and/or the institution’s complaint handling policy
3. outlines the protections available to individuals who make complaints or reports in good faith to any institution engaging in child-related work (see Recommendation 7.6 on reporter protections).

7.9 - Final Report

State and territory governments should establish nationally consistent legislative schemes (reportable conduct schemes), based on the approach adopted in New South Wales, which obliges heads of institutions to notify an oversight body of any reportable allegation, conduct or conviction involving any of the institution’s employees.

7.10 - Final Report

Reportable conduct schemes should provide for:

1. an independent oversight body
2. obligatory reporting by heads of institutions
3. a definition of reportable conduct that covers any sexual offence, or sexual misconduct, committed against, with, or in the presence of, a child
4. a definition of reportable conduct that includes the historical conduct of a current employee
5. a definition of employee that covers paid employees, volunteers and contractors
6. protection for persons who make reports in good faith
7. oversight body powers and functions that include:
   1. scrutinising institutional systems for preventing reportable conduct and for handling and responding to reportable allegations, or reportable convictions
   2. monitoring the progress of investigations and the handling of complaints by institutions
   3. conducting, on its own motion, investigations concerning any reportable conduct of which it has been notified or otherwise becomes aware
   4. power to exempt any class or kind of conduct from being reportable conduct
   5. capacity building and practice development, through the provision of training, education and guidance to institutions
   6. public reporting, including annual reporting on the operation of the scheme and trends in reports and investigations, and the power to make special reports to parliaments.

7.11 - Final Report

State and territory governments should periodically review the operation of reportable conduct schemes, and in that review determine whether the schemes should cover additional institutions that exercise a high degree of responsibility for children and involve a heightened risk of child sexual abuse.

7.12 - Final Report

Reportable conduct schemes should cover institutions that:

• exercise a high degree of responsibility for children
• engage in activities that involve a heightened risk of child sexual abuse, due to institutional characteristics, the nature of the activities involving children, or the additional vulnerability of the children the institution engages with.

At a minimum, these should include institutions that provide:

1. accommodation and residential services for children, including:
   1. housing or homelessness services that provide overnight beds for children and young people
   2. providers of overnight camps.
2. activities or services of any kind, under the auspices of a particular religious denomination or faith, through which adults have contact with children
3. childcare services, including:
   1. approved education and care services under the Education and Care Services National Law
   2. approved occasional care services.
4. child protection services and out-of-home care, including:
   1. child protection authorities and agencies
   2. providers of foster care, kinship or relative care
   3. providers of family group homes
   4. providers of residential care.
5. disability services and supports for children with disability, including:
   1. disability service providers under state and territory legislation
   2. registered providers of supports under the National Disability Insurance Scheme.
6. education services for children, including:
   1. government and non-government schools
   2. TAFEs and other institutions registered to provide senior secondary education or training courses for overseas students or student exchange programs.
7. health services for children, including:
   1. government health departments and agencies, and statutory corporations
   2. public and private hospitals
   3. providers of mental health and drug or alcohol treatment services that have inpatient beds for children and young people.
8. justice and detention services for children, including:
   1. youth detention centres
   2. immigration detention facilities.