The Minister for Community Services and Facilities, Chris Steel has introduced new laws into the Legislative Assembly to make the ACT’s background checking on those working with vulnerable people the most comprehensive in the nation.
Mr Steel said the Assembly Bill implemented national policy reform stemming from the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse and recommendations from the ACT’s legislative review.
“A major change is an extension to registration renewal from three to five years reflecting the introduction of continuous background monitoring for employees and volunteers working with vulnerable people,” Mr Steel said.
“This legislation will further protect vulnerable people by strengthening the ACT’s already comprehensive background checking scheme and make it more efficient.”
He said the changes reflected the move to continuous monitoring of a person’s background.
“If there is a red flag, such as a person being accused of an offence, that person’s registration could be re-assessed immediately,” the Minister said.
He said the Bill introduced disqualifying offences for those seeking to register for a NDIS activity with a person found to have committed an offence automatically excluded from working or volunteering with vulnerable people.
Minister for Disability, Rachel Stephen-Smith said that the ACT was one of the first jurisdictions to introduce national changes to further protect people with disability who were accessing NDIS services.
“These changes are another important step in ensuring that people working or who would like to work with NDIS services does not pose a risk to participants,” Ms Stephen-Smith said.
“The transition to NDIS has bought many changes to the framework that safeguards people with disability.”
She said the ACT PS had worked hard to ensure the transition to the new national Quality and Safeguards Commission for NDIS providers was as smooth as possible.
