Child Safe Organisations Bill 2024
Plain English Summary
Overview
This bill creates a mandatory child safe organisations system for Queensland, requiring organisations that work with children to meet 10 child safe standards and report allegations of child abuse by their workers. It implements key recommendations from the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse and gives the Queensland Family and Child Commission new powers to oversee child safety across sectors including schools, childcare, health services, religious bodies, sport clubs, and government agencies.
Who it affects
Every Queensland organisation that provides services or facilities for children must comply with child safe standards. Organisations with a high degree of responsibility for children, including schools, childcare, disability services, health services, religious bodies, and youth justice, must also report and investigate allegations of worker misconduct under a new reportable conduct scheme.
Key changes
- Organisations working with children must implement and comply with 10 mandatory child safe standards and a Universal Principle for cultural safety of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children
- A new reportable conduct scheme requires organisations to report allegations of child abuse by workers to the Queensland Family and Child Commission within 3 business days, investigate them, and provide a final report
- Reportable conduct includes child sexual offences, physical violence, ill-treatment, significant neglect, sexual misconduct, and behaviour causing significant emotional or psychological harm
- The Queensland Family and Child Commission becomes the independent oversight body with graduated enforcement powers including compliance notices, enforceable undertakings, court orders, and public naming of non-compliant organisations
- Penalties of up to 100 penalty units for failing to report or investigate allegations, and up to 200 penalty units for unauthorised disclosure of confidential information
- Obligations are phased in from 1 October 2025 (child safe standards) through to 1 July 2027 (full reportable conduct scheme), with more regulated sectors starting first
- Replaces existing risk management strategy requirements under the Working with Children Act, which is renamed to the Working with Children Check Act 2000
Bill Story
The journey of this bill through Parliament, including debate and recorded votes.
▸Committee12 June 2024View Hansard
Referred to Community Support and Services Committee
The Community Support and Services Committee examined the Child Safe Organisations Bill 2024 over approximately seven weeks, receiving 21 written submissions and holding a public departmental briefing and public hearing. The committee unanimously recommended the Bill be passed, finding broad stakeholder support for the establishment of mandatory child safe standards, a Universal Principle for cultural safety of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, and a nationally consistent reportable conduct scheme. While supportive of the Bill's objectives, stakeholders raised concerns about implementation support for smaller and regional organisations, potential duplication of reporting obligations, and the adequacy of the Queensland Family and Child Commission's complaint-handling functions.
Key findings (5)
- Stakeholders broadly supported the Bill's intent to implement the Royal Commission's recommendations through mandatory child safe standards and a reportable conduct scheme
- The Queensland Family and Child Commission was endorsed as the appropriate independent oversight body, though some stakeholders sought stronger complaint-receiving powers for the QFCC
- Smaller organisations and those in rural, remote and regional areas raised concerns about the compliance burden, with the government committing $43.525 million over four years to support implementation
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander stakeholders supported the Universal Principle for cultural safety but called for First Nations people to lead implementation and regulation of cultural safety requirements
- The committee found the Bill compatible with human rights, noting that any limitations on rights such as freedom of religion regarding religious confessionals were justified to protect children from harm
Recommendations (1)
- The committee recommends the Child Safe Organisations Bill 2024 be passed.
Committee report tabled
▸Second Reading11 Sept 2024View Hansard
▸11 members spoke11 support
Introduced and defended the bill as Minister for Child Safety, outlining the mandatory child safe standards and reportable conduct scheme that implement royal commission recommendations.
“The Child Safe Organisations Bill 2024 takes an important step towards ensuring our children have the best environments to learn, play and grow.”— 2024-09-11View Hansard
Supported the bill as shadow minister for child protection but criticised the government for taking seven years to implement royal commission recommendations, arguing children were left vulnerable by the delay.
“The LNP welcomes the changes and we will support them throughout the debate. They are the right changes we need to increase the safety of children in the organisations they interact with, but they are long overdue.”— 2024-09-11View Hansard
Supported the bill but heavily criticised the government for delayed implementation, noting that the QFCC had completed only 16 of 81 recommendations by 2021 and that the reportable conduct scheme was five years overdue.
“Here we are in 2024, five years—half a decade—later, and it is finally being done. If that is protecting children, if that is acting with alacrity, if that is acting, as the then premier said, with 'priority', then God help Queensland if this government gets re-elected on 26 October.”— 2024-09-11View Hansard
Spoke as committee chair in support of the bill, outlining the committee's recommendation to pass the bill and the strong stakeholder support for adopting national child safe standards and the universal principle for cultural safety.
“There is no denying that our number one priority as a community is to ensure the safety of our children.”— 2024-09-11View Hansard
Supported the bill as a committee member, noting the importance of implementing the royal commission's recommendations on child safe standards and the reportable conduct scheme, while raising concerns about support for smaller organisations and the need for adequate resources.
“Every time we hear in the news that a child has been sexually exploited, we ask what more could have been done to prevent this abuse.”— 2024-09-11View Hansard
Supported both bills, particularly welcoming the removal of blue card requirements for kinship carers which she said would encourage more Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families to take up kinship care and keep children connected to family, culture and country.
“It takes a village to raise a child, and the new reforms relating to kinship, for me, are about supporting the village to raise a child.”— 2024-09-11View Hansard
Supported both bills, outlining the child safe standards, the reportable conduct scheme, the expanded blue card requirements and the new risk-based decision-making framework.
“The bill requires the Queensland Family and Child Commission to share findings of reportable conduct to Blue Card Services to inform assessments under the working with children check assessments.”— 2024-09-11View Hansard
Supported the bill while noting concerns raised by Queensland Foster and Kinship Care about unintended effects on family-based care, and calling for additional resourcing for community service organisations.
“I am genuinely glad, even relieved, to see both of these bills coming back for debate before the end of this session of parliament.”— 2024-09-11View Hansard
Supported the bill while criticising the government for delayed implementation, and paid tribute to child safety advocacy organisations including Bravehearts and ACT for Kids.
“While my colleagues and I support the bill, it is important to note that the bill took too long, as most things do with this tired, old Labor government.”— 2024-09-11View Hansard
Supported the bill while raising concerns about the impact on local governments providing childcare in rural and regional areas, and called for adequate consultation and support from the QFCC for these councils.
“Children are our state's future but children cannot advocate for themselves. They rely on adults to provide them with protection from harm and abuse.”— 2024-09-11View Hansard
Supported the bill but delivered an impassioned criticism of the government's seven-year delay in implementing royal commission recommendations, arguing families in her community paid the price for government inaction on child safety reforms.
“A pile of recommendations to fix the child safety system and the blue card system has been sitting on Labor ministers' desks since 2017—recommendations that could have kept the children in my community safe.”— 2024-09-11View Hansard
Referenced Entities
Legislation
Organisations
Programs & Schemes
Sectors Affected
Classified using AGIFT/ANZSIC Australian government standards