Working with Children Check Reforms in Western Australia: ‘Banned in One, Banned in All’

Working with Children Check Reforms in Western Australia: ‘Banned in One, Banned in All’

Working with Children (WWC) Checks are an important part of Australia’s child safety framework. They help assess whether a person is suitable to undertake child-related work and provide organisations with an important safeguard when recruiting and engaging workers and volunteers.

WWC Check schemes have traditionally operated under separate state and territory legislation. This could create gaps where a person who had been refused or lost a WWC Check in one jurisdiction could potentially seek approval to work with children and young people in another.

Recent reforms are designed to address this issue by strengthening information sharing and recognition of adverse screening outcomes between jurisdictions.

In Western Australia (WA), amendments to the Working with Children (Screening) Act 2004 (Act) came into effect on 17 September 2026. The changes introduce mutual recognition of certain adverse interstate WWC decisions, supporting what has been described as the “banned in one, banned in all” approach.

What is a Working with Children Check?

A WWC Check is a screening process for people who undertake, or propose to undertake, child-related work. While the terminology and specific requirements differ between jurisdictions, the purpose is to help prevent people who may pose a risk to children and young people from undertaking relevant work.

In WA, the Act establishes the State’s screening framework. It provides for the assessment of people undertaking child-related work and circumstances in which a person may be prohibited from doing so.

The legislation covers a range of child-related activities and workplaces, including areas such as education, childcare, coaching, tuition, and the care or accommodation of children and young people.

A WWC Check is only one part of an organisation’s safeguarding framework. It does not replace obligations in relation to appropriate recruitment, supervision, complaints handling, risk assessment or responses to concerns about a worker.

What Has Changed Under the WA Legislation?

The amendments introduce the concept of an “adverse interstate WWC decision” into WA’s legislative framework.

Under section 8B of the Act, an adverse interstate WWC decision can include certain decisions made by an equivalent screening authority in another Australian state or territory. These can include refusing an application, issuing a negative notice, imposing certain restrictions or conditions, suspending or cancelling an authority, or imposing an interim prohibition on child- related work. This means that a negative screening outcome in one Australian jurisdiction can have consequences for a person’s ability to obtain or retain a WWC Check in another jurisdiction.

The reform is intended to close a potential gap between state and territory screening systems by ensuring that relevant adverse decisions do not stop at a jurisdictional border.

How Will the New System Operate?

The amendments provide mechanisms for WA to identify whether an applicant or existing WWC Check holder is subject to an adverse interstate decision.

Under section 12(2)(c), the WA Chief Executive Officer (CEO) must check the WWC National Reference System when assessing an application to establish whether the applicant is subject to an adverse interstate WWC decision.

The legislation also addresses people who already hold a WA WWC Check.

Under section 19A, where the CEO becomes aware that a current WWC Check holder is subject to an adverse interstate WWC decision, the person’s WA assessment notice must be cancelled, subject to the operation of the legislation.

The legislation also provides for circumstances in which an adverse interstate decision ceases to apply, including where the original decision has expired, been revoked or overturned.

Together, these provisions mean the reform is relevant not only when a person first applies for a WWC Check, but also where their screening circumstances change after they have entered child-related work.

What Does This Mean For Organisations?

For organisations working with children and young people, the reforms reinforce that WWC screening should be treated as part of ongoing safeguarding, rather than simply a recruitment requirement.

Organisations in WA should review their existing processes to ensure they can respond appropriately when a worker’s WWC status changes. This includes considering how screening information is recorded, monitored and acted upon.

Organisations should also consider:

• whether recruitment and onboarding processes clearly identify WWC requirements;
• how WWC information is managed for employees, volunteers, students and other relevant workers;
• whether processes account for workers who have screening histories in another state or territory;
• how managers are notified and respond when a person’s eligibility changes; and
• whether safeguarding policies clearly address screening requirements and restrictions on child-related work.

The WA Government has advised that where an organisation becomes aware that a person is subject to an adverse interstate WWC decision, it must take action to ensure the person does not continue undertaking child-related work where the legislation prohibits this.

For organisations operating across multiple jurisdictions, the reforms also highlight the importance of understanding the interaction between different state and territory screening schemes.

WWC Screening is Only One Part of Safeguarding

The reforms strengthen the connection between Australia’s WWC Check systems, but screening should not be treated as a complete child safety strategy.

A person may hold a valid WWC Check while concerns about their conduct, behaviour or interactions with children and young people arise. Organisations therefore need processes that allow them to identify and respond to concerns throughout a person’s engagement with the organisation.

This includes having clear systems for reporting concerns, managing complaints and disclosures, assessing risks, responding to allegations and taking appropriate action where necessary.

Effective safeguarding requires organisations to look beyond whether a worker has current clearance and consider the broader systems that protect children and young people.

A Broader National Reform Agenda

The WA amendments form part of a wider national effort to strengthen Australia’s WWC Check arrangements.

The Standing Council of Attorneys-General has been progressing national reforms aimed at improving consistency between jurisdictions, including the mutual recognition of negative WWC decisions.

National reform work is also considering areas such as information sharing, risk assessment, exclusion criteria and continuous monitoring.

The Australian Government has separately committed funding towards a National Continuous Checking Capability, which is intended to improve the sharing of relevant criminal history information about people holding WWC Checks.

WA has also indicated that further reforms are being developed. Phase 2 reforms are underway and are expected to be informed by recommendations from the Royal Commission’s WWC Checks Report, feedback from the WA Government’s 2025 public consultation, and ongoing national reform discussions.

This means organisations should expect WWC screening requirements to continue evolving.

What Should Organisations Be Doing Now?

Organisations should use the introduction of the WA reforms as an opportunity to review their existing screening and safeguarding arrangements.

This may include reviewing recruitment procedures, WWC Check record-keeping, processes for monitoring changes to worker eligibility and internal procedures for responding when a worker can no longer undertake child-related work.

Organisations should also ensure their WWC Check processes operate alongside broader safeguarding measures, including appropriate recruitment practices, supervision, complaints management, risk assessment, investigations and responses to allegations or disclosures.

How Can Safe Space Legal Help?

Safe Space Legal has extensive experience working with organisations across Australia to strengthen safeguarding frameworks and meet their legal and regulatory obligations. We work with organisations across WA. and Australia, to help build a culture of safety and accountability and support organisations to have robust recruitment strategies to keep children and young people safe.

We provide the following services to ensure organisations meet their legal obligations:

• Drafting legally sound policies, procedures, and codes of conduct;
• Providing policy audits and developing safeguarding policies, procedures, and complaint handing processes;
• Providing root cause analysis to identify gaps in policy and/or practice which put organisations at risk of non-compliance with their sector-specific obligations;
• Conducting safeguarding investigations which are compliant with relevant state and territory legislation and regulations;
• Delivering tailored safeguarding training to ensure organisations are aware of their sector-specific requirements and obligations;
• Ensuring that complaints handling and reporting processes are compliant with legal obligations;
• Provide sound legal advice on risk mitigation.

Contact office@safespacelegal.com.au or call (03) 9124 7321 to organise a complementary discussion in relation to your organisation’s child safety and safeguarding needs.