Committee Details

COMMITTEE'S REPORT

The committee tabled its Report No. 8, 57th Parliament - Working with Children (Risk Management and Screening) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2024 on 2 August 2024. The Bill was passed with amendment by the Queensland Parliament on 11 September 2024.

ABOUT THE BILL

On 12 June 2024, the Hon Yvette D’Ath, Attorney-General and Minister for Justice and Minister for the Prevention of Domestic and Family Violence introduced the Working with Children (Risk Management and Screening) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2024 (Bill) into the Queensland Parliament.  The Bill was referred to the Education, Employment, Training and Skills Committee for detailed consideration.   

View: Explanatory speech 
View: Bill 
View: Explanatory Notes 
View: Statement of compatibility 

The Bill seeks to amend the Child Protection Act 1992, Disability Services Act 2006, and the Working with Children (Risk Management and Screening) Act 2000 (WWC Act) alongside 17 other Acts related to child protection. 

The Bill has 5 principal objectives:

1. implement 12 recommendations from the Queensland Family and Child Commission (QFCC) report Keeping Queensland’s children more than safe: review of the blue card system
2. implement recommendations made by the former Legal Affairs and Safety Committee (LASC), the Women’s Safety and Justice Taskforce (Taskforce) and the former Youth Justice Reform Select Committee (YJRSC) to alter the decision-making process surrounding blue cards
3. simplify, streamline, and improve the operation of the blue card system
4. implement the first stage of the Government’s response to the QFCC report, A thematic analysis of provisionally approved kinship carers who receive a subsequent blue card negative notice by removing the requirement that kinship carers hold a blue card
5. provide for the sharing of Childrens Court child protection records with other Australian courts and tribunals.

Further information

Further information including written briefings, correspondence, response to submissions, transcripts and answers to questions taken on notice are available under the Related Publications tab.

submissions

Submissions can be viewed on the “View Submissions” tab above. 

PUBLIC PROCEEDINGS

The committee held a public briefing on the Bill by officers of the Department of Justice and Attorney-General on Friday, 28 June 2024 and a public hearing on Wednesday, 17 July 2024.

Friday, 28 June 2024, 10am to 11am - Program - Broadcast - Transcript
Wednesday, 17 July 2024 - Program - Broadcast - Transcript