More than 170 people facing allegations still have work-with-children clearance. That’s about to change

More than 170 Victorians with child safety allegations against them can currently work with children, but they would have their clearance immediately suspended under new legislation being rushed through the state parliament.

The Victorian government introduced its first reforms to parliament on Tuesday after accepting all 22 recommendations of a rapid review into the childcare crisis and has committed to implementing them within 12 months.

The bill would give Victorian authorities the power to immediately suspend working-with-children checks in more circumstances. Currently, most people are given 28 days to prove their suitability to continue working with children.

Attorney-General Sonya Kilkenny said the clearances of 173 people were currently being re-assessed.

She said those charged or convicted with the most serious offences such as sexual assault already had their clearances immediately revoked.

“What this legislation will do today, will be to broaden that out so that there is the capacity for the regulator to immediately suspend a person’s working with children check in circumstances that go beyond that, to any offence that poses a risk to children, to any relevant regulatory or disciplinary finding,” Kilkenny said.

“As of today, we know there are 173 people in that category.”

Premier Jacinta Allan said that would not include solely childcare workers, but also people in volunteer roles, such as at local sporting clubs.

“If the parliament can move and address this today, it will be in effect this week.”

The government has said parliament would not rise until the bill passes, and Allan said work was being done with Government House to ensure it become law within a day.

Shadow attorney-general Michael O’Brien, who was only briefed on the details of the bill late on Monday, said the opposition would support its passage through parliament but that it was a “timid” bill that didn’t go far enough.

The opposition’s education spokeswoman Jess Wilson said the Coalition would have discussions with the crossbench about amendments.

She said the revelation that 173 people’s clearances were currently under reassessment “highlights how broken” the system was.

Victorian Greens spokeswoman for early childhood Anasina Gray-Barberio agreed the sector was “completely broken” but that the minor party stood ready to work constructively with the government on the bill and further tranches of reform.

“It has unfortunately taken a full-blown crisis and scandal for this government to finally come to the table and commit to meaningful action.”

The Victorian ombudsman in 2022 described the state’s working-with-children system as “among the most limited in the country” and recommended it be overhauled, but was ignored by the government.

Allan, who became premier in 2023, has repeatedly insisted she is taking urgent action that go further than the ombudsman’s recommendations.

“As premier today, I’m taking action today and focused on what needs to be done immediately,” Allan said.

“Nothing is more important to me than the safety of children, and devoting the work of government today and in the coming weeks and months to strengthening and overhauling the child safety system here in Victoria.”

Allan ordered the rapid review – and appointed former South Australian premier Jay Weatherill and Pamela White, chair of the Victorian Registration and Qualifications Authority – after Melbourne childcare worker Joshua Dale Brown was charged with sexually abusing babies and toddlers in his care.

The states and the Commonwealth agreed to progress recommendations that went to national changes at a meeting of education ministers last Friday.

Brown’s case remains before the courts.

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