Page 4865 - Week 12 - Tuesday, 25 October 2011
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amendment will allow all new and existing employees and volunteers providing regulated services to children to be checked in the first year and all employees and volunteers providing services to both children and adults to be subject to checking from years two through to six of the scheme’s operation.
The mental health and drug and alcohol sectors had previously expressed concerns about how the Working with Vulnerable People (Background Checking) Bill 2010 would impact on their employees with “lived experience”. These organisations’ employees working with vulnerable adults will be screened during the fifth year to allow sectors sufficient time to prepare for the reforms and this will occur after a review of the act in the fourth year of the implementation phase. No new background checks will occur during this year. The focus will be to identify what is working and how the background checking scheme can be improved.
The ACT community requested that the background checking system be simple to understand and be equitable and fair for the applicant. Extensive conversations with the community have occurred on the guidelines and the application form for registration.
The National Operators Forum brings the commonwealth and states and territories together under the national framework for protecting Australia’s children and working with children checks. The forum works toward establishing a nationally consistent decision making framework to guide decisions about suitability for employment.
I am advised that the Greens will be proposing an amendment to the bill which will result in the risk assessment guidelines being notified as a disallowable instrument, and the government will support that amendment.
Also, stakeholders have said to us that they are concerned some people working with or wanting to work with vulnerable people may leave the workforce. They may be deterred from applying for working with vulnerable people registration as their lived experience may result in a negative risk assessment. Stakeholders identified people who may experience difficulties in completing the application form due to poor literacy skills. The government has recognised and responded to these concerns by calling for “champions” to be identified across the ACT community. These champions will provide support to individuals throughout the working with vulnerable people registration application process including, where necessary, advocating on behalf or alongside the applicant. Stakeholders have been asked whether they wish to be included in a list of champions provided on the Community Services Directorate’s website.
The Office of Regulatory Services will engage a health professional officer level 4 to assist with refining the background checking implementation approach as well as provide guidance on the appropriate consideration of lived experiences. The Office of Regulatory Services background screening unit will be responsible for implementing the background checking scheme. The bill’s proposed regulations oblige employers who engage with people with conditional registration, including role-based registration, to provide certain documents to the background screening unit. These documents identify the organisation’s risk management strategies and policies and
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