An inconsistent and complex approach by states and territories to running background checks on people wanting to work with children has failed those the schemes are supposed to protect, prompting the royal commission into child sexual abuse to call for sweeping changes.
The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse says that an over-reliance on the schemes - known as Working With Children Checks (WWCCs) - can actually be detrimental to children's safety and it has delivered a scathing assessment of efforts by various governments to address the problem.
In a report tabled in the federal parliament on Monday, the commission has made a series of recommendations including that a national scheme for conducting background checks be introduced within 12 months, and that a centralised database, operated by CrimTrac, and which is readily accessible to all jurisdictions, be created.
The report has also recommended that all religious leaders and officers, or personnel of religious organisations, be required to undergo a background check.
The recommendations come after the commission found inconsistencies between states and territories regarding screening practices, as well as a lack of information-sharing across jurisdictions. This means the system is failing the children it was meant to protect.
"These problems are not new and have been recognised by governments for some time," the report said.
"We believe that the absence of any action to fix these problems is a significant and inexcusable failure on the part of governments. These problems cannot continue to be ignored."
In Australia, each state and territory has its own scheme, all of which operate independently of each other.
They are inconsistent and complex and there is unnecessary duplication across the schemes, the commission found. There is no integration of the schemes and there is inadequate information sharing and monitoring of WWCC cardholders.
Aside from criminal history, there are no mechanisms to share information between jurisdictions.
"Combined, these problems mean that the system is not providing the protection to children that it otherwise could," the report said.
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