In the lead up to and following the release of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (Royal Commission) Final Report in December 2017, the ACT Government has been incrementally introducing legislative amendments and increased regulatory guidance to strengthen its child protection legal and regulatory framework.
Key updates include:
- November 2017 - the release of an updated version of the ACT Community Services Department’s ‘Keeping Children and Young People Safe’ to include additional guidance and include information about the relatively new Reportable Conduct Scheme (introduced in the ACT in July 2017)
- December 2017 – amendments to the Reportable Conduct Scheme regarding information sharing
- February 2018 – the release of updated Reportable Conduct Scheme Practice Guides and Resources that included additional examples of conduct which should not be engaged in
- July 2018 – an amendment to the Ombudsman Act 1989 (ACT) to expand the scope of the Reportable Conduct Scheme to include religious organisations
- October 2018 – the introduction of the Australian Student Wellbeing Framework (ASWF) to replace the National Safe Schools Framework (NSSF) as a key foundational document for all Australian schools
- December 2018 – introduction of a new ‘failure to protect’ offence in the Crimes Act 1900 (ACT).
This paper will focus on replacement of the NSSF with the ASWF and the new ‘failure to protect’ offence.
For more access to the Reportable Conduct Scheme Practice Guides and the Scheme’s application to religious organisations, see the ACT Ombudsman website.