New year means new penalties for those who don’t comply with Child Safe Standards

Laws arising from the Child Wellbeing and Safety (Child Safe Standards Compliance and Enforcement) Amendment Act 2021 will come into effect from 1 January 2023 in Victoria, which include stronger penalties for organisations who fail to comply with the Child Safe Standards.

The Act will give the Commission for Children and Young People and other regulators more powers to assess and enforce compliance with the Child Safe Standards.

Key changes include:

• new powers for officers including the ability to inspect organisations’ premises without notice, to assess compliance with the new Standards
• new enforcement actions including official warnings, court injunctions, enforceable undertakings and the ability for a regulator to publish details about an organisation’s non-compliance
• the introduction of a range of criminal offences and increased maximum penalties for non-compliance with notices and directions issued by the Commission.

The Commission will continue to focus on supporting and educating organisations about the Standards, and will prioritise providing guidance and support for organisations who are yet to fully comply with the new Standards. 

The new laws also change which regulators have a role enforcing the Standards and the sectors they regulate. The changes mean that some sectors will have a new regulator for the Standards. More information on who the Standards regulators are from 1 January 2023 is available here. 

Early childhood education and care (ECEC) and other organisations should continue to work to implement the 11 Standards that came into effect on 1 July 2022. The Commission’s guidance materials are available here.

The Commission will publish more information about the new powers and penalties in the coming months, with ECEC services encouraged to subscribe to the email list to be notified of any updates.