Arabic version: الولايات تتفق على إصلاحات وطنية لفحص العمل مع الأطفال

According to ABC News, state and territory leaders have agreed on a national baseline of serious criminal offences that will automatically prevent a person from holding a Working with Children Check. The agreement followed a meeting in Darwin between Federal Attorney-General Michelle Rowland and her state and territory counterparts.

Ministers also agreed to minimum national standards intended to ensure jurisdictions consider comparable information and apply an equivalent statutory test when assessing whether a person poses a risk to children. They discussed the types of information to be shared with state and territory Working with Children Check screening units.

Rowland said the reforms would strengthen the integrity of the screening system and close gaps between jurisdictions. She said all governments had reached agreement on key elements of the national reforms, describing child safety as a priority for every jurisdiction and saying the measures would help make Working with Children Check systems nationally consistent.

Other developments included criticism from the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the government’s proposal for a minimum 30 per cent tax on discretionary trusts. Agriculture Minister Julie Collins said it was not technically feasible to eradicate H5 bird flu from Australia’s wild bird population, while confirming a further case in a greater crested tern in Portland, Victoria. Collins said there were 33 confirmed and 22 suspected cases in Australia, with no detections in the poultry industry or evidence of mass mortalities.