Child and Youth Safe Organisations Framework

All children and young people have the right to feel and be safe.

Keeping children and young people safe is everyone’s responsibility.

At the City of Launceston, we will continuously improve the way we engage with, and care for, children and young people. Children and young people want to be heard and to be believed. They have opinions and perspectives about their safety, which must be respected, and they must be empowered to voice them.  

At the City of Launceston, we are responsible for the safety and wellbeing of children and young people that we engage with. We have a responsibility to recognise the signs of harm to children and young people and a legal and moral obligation to respond appropriately and in a timely manner.

We recognise that some children face additional risk of harm. Children and young people have the right to be respected, feel safe and be protected from harm, irrespective of their gender, race, sexual orientation, ability, or cultural, religious, economic, and family circumstances.

We will establish and maintain an administrative and governance framework which serves to promote the safety and wellbeing of all children and young people; to empower them and to prevent harm to them. Where harm has been caused by us, we will take responsibility for that harm and act to ensure that it does not continue and is not repeated.

We will create an environment where children and young people feel safe and are safe, have their voices heard and are involved in the decisions that affect their lives.

Our promises to you…

Respect…

We will treat everyone equally no matter where they are from or who they are. We will make sure everyone feels included and welcome.

Inform…

We will give you information about your physical, emotional and online safety, and what to do if you feel unsafe.

Give you a voice…

We will make sure there are lots of ways for you to have a say and be involved.

Help…

We will listen and act on what you tell us. We will help you with your hopes and dreams as well as your worries and fears.

Trust…

You can trust that we will care about your needs and feelings and will support you. We will continue to get better at what we do.

Safety…

We will make our place happy and comfortable for you.

The Office of the Independent Regulator oversees Tasmanian organisations (including sole traders) required to comply with the Child and Youth Safe Organisations Framework.

The Independent Regulator:

• is independent from the Tasmanian Government and reports to parliament, not a department
• oversees a wide range of Tasmanian organisations that engage with children and young people
• assists organisations to comply with the Child and Youth Safe Standards and the Universal Principle
• builds the capability of organisations to prevent, identify, and respond to harm to children and young people
• ensures organisations report and undertake investigations correctly in line with the Reportable Conduct Scheme
• is established and given powers under the Child and Youth Safe Organisations Act 2023
• has significant enforcement powers to ensure compliance
• can share information in the interests of protecting children and young people
• will collect and report on trends in relation to child and youth safe organisations

As a part of their role they provide information to organisations which can be accessed at this page. This page makes resources available to a wide audience including organisations, workers, parents and children to assist with understanding the Child and Youth Safe Organisations Framework. These resources were developed by the Department of Justice and have been endorsed by the Office of the Independent Regulator.

Resources | Office of the Independent Regulator

Background

The Australian Child Maltreatment Study (2023) is the first nationally representative study of the prevalence of child maltreatment and its associated health outcomes in Australia. It found, from a survey of 8500 Australians aged 16 – 65+, that:

• The overall prevalence of child sexual abuse in Australia is 28.5%
• Almost 1 in 4 experienced one or more types of contact child sexual abuse
• Almost 1 in 5 experienced non-contact child sexual abuse

The Child and Youth Safe Organisations Act 2023 (the Act) is the Tasmanian law that establishes standards for the safety and wellbeing of children and young people. The Act was established in response to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (2012 – 2015) and the Commission of Enquiry into the Tasmanian Governments Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Institutional Settings (2021 – 2023).

The Royal Commission found:

• Many organisations failed to protect children in their care from abuse
• These failures were historical and contemporary, meaning they didn’t only happen ‘in the past’
• The institutional cultures and practices that allowed abuse to happen and stopped people investigating it properly were still happening

The Royal Commission made recommendations designed to put these things right, including:

• The development of a national set of child safe standards (which became the National Principles for Child Safe Organisations)
• That places in Australia that didn’t already have a reportable conduct scheme in place should develop and implement one

Notice of Motion

At the 21 September 2023 Council Meeting a Notice of Motion from Councillor Dawkins entitled ‘Establishing a Leadership Role for City of Launceston in the Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse’ was passed 11-1.

The recommendation, in part, called upon Council “To show local community leadership and responsiveness to the revelations of widespread historic and contemporary child sexual abuse in Launceston”

The Framework

The Act establishes the Child and Youth Safe Organisations Framework (the Framework) which Councils are required to comply with from January 1st 2024. The Framework is made up of four key elements:

The Child and Youth Safe Standards and Universal Principle of Aboriginal Cultural Safety

• Ten principles organisations must put into practice to develop and maintain a culture with child safety and wellbeing at its centre
• A universal principle which overlays all standards ensuring the cultural safety of Aboriginal people.

The Reportable Conduct Scheme

• A compulsory scheme that requires leaders of certain organisations to report and investigate concerns about conduct related to child abuse involving a worker to an independent regulator

Office of the Independent Regulator (OIR)

• An independent regulatory body that will oversee the Framework to make sure organisations have the support, advice, and education they need to do the right thing

Information Sharing Provisions

• Specific rules written into the law that mean people and organisations connected to the Framework can share personal information in certain circumstances.

City of Launceston's Progress to becoming a Child and Youth Safe Organisation

September 2023

The Council passed a motion presented by Councillor A E Dawkins - Establishing a Leadership Role for City of Launceston in the Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse. "To show local community leadership and responsiveness to the revelations of widespread historic and contemporary child sexual abuse in Launceston…"

October 2023 - August 2024

Council officers engaged in research and participated in training and education opportunities to establish the groundwork to becoming a Child and Youth Safe Organisation. 

September 2024

Adoption of the Statement of Commitment to the Safety of Children and Young People.

What's next?

Council will undertake consultation with stakeholders - including children and young people, victim/survivors of child sexual abuse and child and youth focussed organisations in the Launceston municipality to inform the development of a Child and Youth Safe Organisation Policy.

Council officers will undertake a review of internal policies and procedures to ensure compliance with the Child and Youth Safe Organisations Framework and to ensure best practice principles are adopted to lead by example as a Child and Youth Safe organisation.