Concerns raised about Victoria’s WWCC system after ‘repeated failures’ 

An ABC investigation into Victoria’s working with children check (WWCC) system has revealed that the WWCC unit cannot consider evidence of abuse or concerning behaviour that has not resulted in a criminal charge or a disciplinary or regulatory finding, unlike all other states and territories. 

This information is of concern for parents and child safety advocates, as it means, in theory, that an educator who had been disciplined at a service level, but who had not had criminal charges brought against them could retain their WWCC and continue working directly with children. 

This was the exact situation for Victorian couple Erin and Dylan, who were contacted in relation to their son Lachie, and asked to come into the service as soon as possible for a discussion. 

On arrival they were shown footage of Lachie being grabbed by the wrist, smacked and dragged across the room.

The parents reported the incident to police and followed up the centre’s reports made to the Victorian Department of Education and the Commissioner for Children and Young People.

The educator was fired, but police did not press charges. As a result Lachie’s parents learned the educator’s WWCC credentials would not be revoked and that the educator could continue to work in early learning settings despite being the subject of four different investigations into their behaviour.

The ABC understands the educator who hit Lachie eventually had their WWCC revoked more than two months after the 2023 incident.

Calls for a nationally consistent approach

A national WWCC system recommended a decade ago by a Royal Commission is yet to be established, something which is a strong point of concern for National Children’s Commissioner Anne Hollonds, who is urging the federal cabinet to make child safety a priority.

Liana Buchanan, who resigned from her role as Victorian Children’s Commissioner in March, is a fellow advocate, telling the ABC she had lobbied the state government to change the law since 2019.

“Where there has been a gap that has been identified and it has been sitting there not acted on for some years, it makes me frustrated and it makes me distressed,” Ms Buchanan said during her final week in the position. 

Her office had referred almost 2,000 people to have their clearance reassessed during her 10 years in the job, however Ms Buchanan said her hands were tied all too often.

“No matter what degree of evidence or information of concern that strongly suggests that an individual poses a risk to children, we can’t unilaterally share that with Working with Children Checks,” she said.

“We have raised this with the government, with the former Attorney-General and in submissions to government a number of times,” she said.

“I honestly can’t speak to why this has not been acted on.”

Working towards standardisation 

The Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC) is working to develop “national continuous checking capability”, which involves combining all state and territory police databases for a “near real-time” checking system, the ABC shared.

The National Office for Child Safety is working for “standardisation” across all jurisdictions, but there is no indication when the measures will be ready for implementation.

Access the original coverage of this story here.