Australia Plans National Reform of Working With Children Checks

In 2025, Australia's childcare safety system is undergoing significant reforms aimed at improving the Working with Children Check process. Attorney-General Michelle Rowland emphasized efforts to implement a 'banned in one, banned in all' policy, ensuring that individuals barred from working with children in one state or territory are prohibited nationwide. Despite calls for a fully national system, current reforms focus on enhancing communication and information sharing among the existing state and territory systems, which remain bespoke due to differing responsibilities, IT capabilities, and funding structures. These reforms respond to multiple allegations of abuse in childcare settings and follow longstanding recommendations from the 2015 Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. The Standing Council of Attorneys-General has prioritized these changes, highlighting a unified commitment to child safety across jurisdictions. However, the complexity and fragmentation of the current system have delayed national standardization, with the government now working to improve consistency and real-time updates across all regions.