State Government announces changes to background screenings for people working with children

By Lauren Novak
Advertiser
August 23, 2016

http://goo.gl/tGvuYK

Screening clearances to work with children will remain valid for five years.

The State Government has today revealed proposed changes to background screening laws which follow recommendations made by Royal Commissioner Margaret Nyland earlier this month.

A key change will establish a single check for working with children, which will be portable across different roles.

Teachers will be required to undergo the same check, despite currently being assessed under a different system.

Applicants will no longer be able to start working with children while their clearance is being processed.

Employers who hire someone without a finalised clearance will be committing an offence and likely face a fine.

Even if a person withdraws an application, the screening unit will still be able to run the background check.

All future screenings will be approved by a central government unit, which will also be able to issue prohibition notices to ban a person from working or volunteering with children if they have been convicted of serious crimes against children.

Current screenings are valid for three years and successful applicants are given a certificate of approval.

There had been calls to introduce a clearance card, like that used in Queensland.

Ms Nyland also called for all screenings be kept on a register, including applications which are withdrawn, and applicants be able to appeal a clearance refusal.

The Royal Commission was sparked by the arrest of former Families SA carer Shannon McCoole on child sex charges. McCoole had passed clearance checks.

The proposed legislation is open for public consultation until September 13.

Child Protection Reform Minister John Rau said screenings were only one of many safeguards needed to protect children and the Government was considering other recommendations made by Ms Nyland.

Opposition Deputy Leader Vickie Chapman said the Opposition would “support any initiative that will improve the screening process”.

The State Government screened about 104,000 people wanting to work or volunteer with children or vulnerable people last year, down from 130,000 people in 2014-15.

The number of people requiring screening had leapt from about 62,000 in 2012-13, due to stricter policies imposed as a result of the Debelle Royal Commission into sexual abuse in schools.

Communities Minister Zoe Bettison, whose Communities Department is responsible for the screenings, has previously said culture of “over-screening” in the wake of high-profile cases of abusers slipping through the cracks had added to the backlog.

Some employers were asking for annual checks, which was unnecessary, she said.

Last December, Ms Bettison told The Advertiser that the Government would establish a new system to continually monitor screening records to more quickly detect offences and update a person’s clearance status accordingly.

The $6.5 million system — which Ms Nyland also recommended — is expected to be operating by mid-2017 and will cost $1.4 million a year to run.

The system is expected to regularly scan sources such as the CrimTrac database and Families SA child protection files.

The names of people who have a valid clearance, or are applying for clearance, would be run through the system daily or weekly.

Confirmed matches of a person’s name to an offence would be sent to the Government’s screening unit for assessment.

The status of clearances would be updated on a register which employers, volunteers groups and student organisations could access through a secure website.

Previous changes implemented by the Communities Department to streamline screening include:

ALLOCATING $500,000 to enable online applications from June next year and make it easier to check and update a person’s criminal history.

EXTRA staff for the screening unit, including some focusing on correctly matching names on applications to records checked.

IMPROVING feedback to applicants about the status of their application and why there may be delays.

AN ADVISORY group comprising welfare groups and government departments that most use the screening unit, such as health, transport and education.

PUSHING for national reforms that would make screening more consistent and portable across the country.