Jacinta Allan pressured to close Working With Children Check loopholes

Herald Sun

a day ago

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The government's childcare safety review is due in full later today but will not be released publicly despite assurances all recommendations will be adopted and implemented.
But Jacinta Allan has repeatedly said the government will need time to consider the review before making it public.
Leader of the Opposition in the upper house, David Davis, on Thursday night called for parliament to be recalled next week to plug gaping hopes in the Working With Children Check system.
The Opposition introduced new legislation through the upper house this week to overhaul the embattled system, after the Premier voted against it in the lower house.
Major flaws in the Working With Children regime have been exposed following the arrest and charge of childcare worker Joshua Brown with dozens of child sex crimes.
They include a loophole that allows people under investigation for child sex crimes to continue to hold their Working With Children checks.
In 2022 the Victorian Ombudsman handed down a damning report which warned of 'serious flaws' in the Working With Children system.
In her report former Ombudsman Deborah Glass said the powers of Victoria's screening authority were among the most limited in Australia.
Mr Davis said the legislation could be passed through the upper house immediately, but would need the support of the government in the lower house to pass parliament.
He wrote to upper house president Shaun Leane on Thursday demanding parliament be recalled next week.
'What has become clear late today is that the Victorian State Government has not closed the loopholes and it is now evident that individuals who continue to pose a risk to children can still hold an active Working With Children Check, and legally engage in working with children, while the process for revoking their clearance is underway,' he said.
'We understand the government tomorrow (Friday) will receive their 'Rapid Review' into the childcare safety system but in one sense this is irrelevant because it is clear the significant loophole must be closed and the Bill we introduced to parliament on Wednesday will close that loophole.
'I am conscious it is your decision to make but I advise it is my view the retention of the arrangement where people whose Working With Children Check is in the process of being revoked can continue to work with children due to a loophole in the law is such a circumstance.
'In the Legislative Assembly the relevant Bill was rejected and no second reading was allowed under the Assembly's Standing Orders.
'In this circumstance the recall of the Council offers the only practical way in which a Bill to close this loophole can be advanced urgently.
'I appreciate that this is an unusual request but examining the circumstances I see no other practical way to close these loopholes in the next few days ahead of the proposed sitting of both Chambers in two weeks time.'
Greens Early Childhood spokesperson, Anasina Gray-Barberio, called for the government to immediately make public the childcare review.
'Victorian families have waited long enough for transparency,' she said.
'Labor must release the findings of this review in full and as a matter of urgency, no sanitised summaries, and no waiting for the political heat to die down.
'Labor needs to go further than this unambitious review, which deliberately left any scrutiny of the government's own regulator out of scope.
'It's time to confront the failures head on, that means real transparency and accountability and closing every gap that's putting children at risk.'