The Bill amended the Act to:
- recognise a Working with Children exclusion issued in another state or territory as an automatic exclusion under Victoria’s scheme. This implements the agreement made by the Commonwealth, states and territories at the Standing Council of Attorneys-General on 15 August 2025 to urgently work towards national mutual recognition, so that a person denied a clearance, or whose clearance has been revoked, in one jurisdiction cannot be granted or hold a Working with Children Check in another jurisdiction.
- expand the suspension powers in the Act. These reforms will work in parallel with amendments recently made to the Worker Screening Regulations 2021 that expanded the number of findings that trigger the assessment of a person’s eligibility to have, or to hold, a Working with Children Check
- a new power to cancel a Working with Children clearance in circumstances where a person provided false or misleading information as part of their application for a check or re-assessment
- increase the limitation period to prosecute a person for providing false or misleading information in recognition of the fact that an offence of this kind may go unnoticed for a period greater than 12 months, which means that criminal proceedings cannot be commenced as the limitation period would have expired.
The department will consider WWCC outcomes when making placement decisions.
Information about the Worker Screening Amendment (Strengthening the Working with Children Check) Act 25 can be found here.