Page 4921 - Week 12 - Tuesday, 25 October 2011
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as parent, and The territory’s children report, as well as a position paper by the ACT Children and Young People Commissioner.
A priority for the ACT government, as announced in the 2008 document The Canberra plan: towards our second century, is to establish a centralised background checking and risk assessment system for employees and volunteers working with vulnerable people to reduce the risk of sexual, physical, emotional or financial abuse or neglect.
The Working with Vulnerable People (Background Checking) Bill 2010 has been informed by evidence-based research, existing legislation, international conventions, obligations arising through interjurisdictional agreements, technical considerations and views expressed by government and non-government service providers, as well as interested and potentially affected individuals.
The basic premise of background checking is that the past behaviour of an individual provides an indication of the possible future behaviour of that individual. Examples or patterns of abusive or inappropriate behaviour can sometimes be evident in information available for assessment, which includes an individual’s criminal record or employment history. There have been documented cases in which a person with a history of abusive behaviour has gained access to vulnerable people because their previous history was not known to their employer or other vetting agency. In the worst cases, these people have gone on to commit further abuse or neglect.
Evidence suggests that around half of sex offenders gain access to their victims through children’s organisations. Targeted ACT legislation currently exists for the protection of vulnerable members of the ACT community while they receive services in the community and in the home, such as the Discrimination Act 1991, Disability Services Act 1991, Children and Young People Act 2008 and Health Practitioner Regulation National Law (ACT). These legislative instruments go some way towards alleviating a person’s disadvantage or vulnerability.
The bill provides that employees, volunteers and self-employed people who are currently working with, or wanting to work with, vulnerable people will be required to undergo background checking. I am confident that, following the implementation of the working with vulnerable people checking scheme, the safety of our vulnerable children and adults, when using regulated activities or services, will increase. The bill provides exemptions for specific individuals such as particular family members, as it was recognised that these people would be likely to have contact with vulnerable people outside a regulated activity. Imposing registration on some people would not reduce the risk of harm to the vulnerable person.
I am pleased to note the proposal to amend the bill to ensure that kinship carers who care for children during a crisis and are not registered are not hindered in this process. The last thing kinship carers need is more stress when faced with unexpectedly caring for young relatives.
The bill and its supporting documents have been developed in cooperation with the ACT community, including vulnerable people. The bill protects vulnerable people without being overly burdensome to employees and volunteers having contact with
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