Victoria’s Working with Children Laws: Stronger Protections, Faster Action — What You Need to Know

Victoria is moving decisively to strengthen its child safety regulatory framework. Spurred by shocking allegations of abuse in childcare settings, a recent rapid review and multi-agency investigations have exposed serious weaknesses in how Victoria’s Working with Children Check (WWCC) system operates. The response has been both swift and substantive: new laws, reforms, and proposed changes that aim to make the system more preventative, more flexible, and more protective of children.

As Alistair Noakes, partner at Resolve Conflict Family Lawyers points out, “these reforms reflect an overdue recognition that screening alone cannot be reactive — we need proactive, dynamic systems that adapt to risks, not just punish past wrongs.”

Below is a summary of the key issues, what’s changing, and what these reforms might mean for parents, childcare and early childhood education providers, and professionals working with children.

What prompted the reforms

Several recent events exposed glaring problems:

• A childcare worker in Melbourne’s south-west was charged with over 70 offences, including sexual assault and producing child abuse material, involving very young children (between 5 months and 2 years). That person still held a valid WWCC at the time.
• The Rapid Child Safety Review, released mid-August 2025, identified systemic failings (in under-resourcing, inconsistent regulation, limited grounds for revocation or investigation of WWCCs) and recommended urgent changes. 

What is changing: Key reforms

Victoria’s government has already committed to, or introduced, several changes. Some are already in effect; others are proposed and awaiting parliamentary passage.
Here are the main ones:

1. WWCC laws made harder to misuse, easier to revoke or suspend.
   • From August, regulations were amended so that WWCC issuing bodies can consider prohibition notices issued by the Department of Education in determining or revoking a person’s clearance. 
   • Legislation is being advanced to ensure that a WWCC clearance is immediately suspended while a reassessment or intended revocation is underway. 
2. Mandatory child safety training and online testing
   • One of the recommendations from the Rapid Review is that anyone applying for a WWCC clearance must undertake a child safety training program (online) with testing, so that just holding a WWCC is not seen as sufficient without knowledge of risk indicators, mandatory reporting, grooming etc.
3. More regulatory power and oversight via new or reformed regulators
   • Creation of a new Early Childhood Education & Care (ECEC) regulator (outside the current Department of Education) with greater oversight, more frequent compliance visits, and better enforcement powers. 
4. Removal of certain procedural protections that delayed action
   • One finding was that there was too much delay in suspending or revoking checks because of appeal rights, or because a person under investigation could continue working while the appeal process played out. The reforms propose removing or reducing those delays in certain situations. 
5. Improved information-sharing, risk intelligence, and transparency
   • Regulators will be able to use intelligence or unsubstantiated allegations in some instances, even where charges have not been laid, where there is a credible risk. 

What this means in practice: Risks, responsibilities and expectations

Here’s what parents, providers, and professionals should understand are the likely outcomes or changes in behaviour under these reforms — and what to do.

• Faster response to safety concerns: Where there are credible allegations, investigations, or regulatory notices, there will be less delay in suspending clearances. That means people or services working with children need to be alert to any such indicators.
• Training and knowledge no longer optional: Holding a WWCC will increasingly require active maintenance of knowledge about child safety (identifying grooming, recognising risk, reporting obligations). Organisations will need policies to ensure staff are trained and know what to do.
• Stricter HR and recruitment practices: Employers will need to more carefully check whether potential employees or volunteers have prohibition notices, prior investigations, or regulatory findings—not just convictions. Also, ongoing checks/monitoring may become more common.
• Greater liability and accountability: If a person with ongoing or credible risk is permitted to work with children, where, under the new reforms, they ought to be excluded or suspended, there may be legal, reputational, or regulatory consequences for services, management, and boards.
• Cross-jurisdictional consistency and data sharing: Someone disqualified or under serious concern in another state won’t be able to slip through. Regulatory regimes will more actively share information.
• Parents and carers can expect more transparency: Children’s safety will be more front-of-mind. Regulators will have more power to investigate unsubstantiated allegations, not just after criminal convictions. Users of childcare and schools may demand better record keeping, safer hiring practices, and clearer reporting of breaches/concerns.

Commentary: Alistair Noakes:

Alistair Noakes, as a partner at Resolve Conflict specialising in children’s and family law welcomes these reforms as both necessary and long overdue. In his view:

“For too long, the Working with Children Check scheme has focused almost exclusively on past convictions or regulatory findings. But many risks of harm to children emerge earlier—through red flags, intelligence, unsubstantiated allegations or concerning behaviour that never leads to conviction. The law needs to recognise and respond to those risks, rather than waiting for harm to occur.”

He also emphasises that while legal reforms are crucial, they must be matched by adequate resources and cultural change:

“A law on the books is only as good as its enforcement, and only as safe as the culture around reporting and oversight. We need properly trained authorised officers, timely investigations, and a system that supports whistleblowers and protects those who raise concerns. The reforms in Victoria move in that direction, but we must ensure they are fully implemented, not just announced.”

Conclusion

Victoria’s overhaul of the Working with Children Check and related child safety schemes marks a major shift: from a reactive model focused on past convictions to a more preventative, intelligence-led, risk-aware approach. These changes should give greater confidence to parents, carers, and the community that laws will act sooner, not later, in protecting children.

If you are a parent, educator, childcare provider, or professional who works in areas involving children and are worried about the effects of these reforms—or about whether current systems have failed you or your child—Resolve Conflict Family Lawyers can help. With expertise in children’s law, we offer guidance on how the law applies to your situation.

Contact us at Resolve Conflict for a complimentary 15-minute call to discuss your case, get clarity about your rights and responsibilities, and understand how to move forward in light of these important legal changes.