The Blue Card system is Queensland checks and monitors individuals working with children and young people to create safe environments and ensure people working with children and young people are suitable. The system essentially has two main components:
- To ensure people working with children and young people are appropriate, are screened by the regulator and issued with a card to prove that they have met the applicable standards
- To ensure that organisations and sole business operators have a strategy in place to promote and manage child safety.
The system is underpinned by the Working with Children (Risk Management and Screening) Act 2000 and the Working with Children (Risk Management and Screening) Regulations 2020.
Legislation sets out 16 categories of employment and 12 categories of businesses that are required to comply with the Blue Card system. Whether a type of employment is captured by the regulations is governed by factors including the environment where a person will perform the work, the type of work and the frequency of work.
Developing and Implementing a Risk Management Strategy
Businesses and sole practitioners regulated by the Blue Card system must implement a child and youth Risk Management Strategy (RMS) The RMS requires an ongoing cycle of planning, commitment and maintenance of child safeguarding. The RMS is a document which addresses each of the following eight mandatory Child Safety requirements:
- Statement of commitment
- Code of conduct
- Recruitment selection training and management
- Handling disclosures and suspicions of harm including reporting guidelines
- Managing breaches
- Risk management for high-risk activities and special events
- Managing compliance with the Blue Card system
- Communication and support
As with other polices and procedures, organisations should align its RMS with the organisation’s aims and values. The RMS should set out in clear language the procedures and expectations for staff and volunteers to implement the strategy in day-to-day practice. The organisation should aim to develop and continually promote a culture of child safety within the organisation.
Children and young people who use the organisation’s services should be consulted in the development and review of the organisation’s RMS. This will ensure that children and young people are empowered and the RMS is relevant to those using the service or participating in activities within an organisation.
The RMS must set out how the organisation identifies risk, mitigates risk, responds to allegations and/or incidents and periodic reviews. The RMS must be reviewed annually and after any incident to ensure that the RMS continually develops and evolves with any change in circumstances or newly identified risk.
Penalties for failing to comply with the Blue Card system
Organisations must not allow a person to commence working in a child regulated environment without a valid Blue Card and must take reasonable steps to confirm the card holder’s identity. The organisation must ensure they link the card holder with Blue Card Services when they commence working in the organisation and delink the cardholder when they leave the organisation. Students seeking placement and volunteers within organisations must be linked to an organisation before they can apply for a Blue Card.
It is an offence for an organisation to allow a person to work in a child regulated environment before they obtain a Blue Card or if their card has been cancelled or suspended. The penalty for an organisation employing a person in regulated employment without a Blue Card or an exemption is up to 200 penalty units or two years’ imprisonment.
It is also an offence for an organisation not to develop and implement an RMS each year as required under the legislation. The maximum penalty for this offence is 20 penalty units.
Benefits of the Blue Card system
In addition to potential penalties, organisations implementing an RMS will help develop child safe cultures within organisations delivering services, or providing activities to children and young people. The Blue Card system ensures that the people associated with the organisations are suitable to work with children and young people and has system in place for suspending or cancelling an individual’s Blue Card where circumstances indicate that need. Ultimately compliance with the Blue Card System ensures that organisations are meeting their duty of care and reducing the risk of children and young people being harmed.
The National Principes for Child Safe Organisations
The final report of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse was published on 15 December 2017 and set out over 200 recommendations to improve chid safety within organisations. Among the recommendations was that organisations working with children and young people should implement the National Principles for Child Safe Organisations. Some states across Australia have already legislated the National Principles and many states, including Queensland, are working towards implementing Frameworks legislating the National Principles. On 12 June 2024 the Child Safe Organisations Bill 2024 was introduced to the Legislative Assembly and seeks to establish a child safe organisations system in Queensland that includes:
- Mandatory child safe standards for organisations within scope of the system; and
- A Reportable Conduct Scheme
Although currently not legislated within Queensland, the Child Safe Standards are consistent with the Blue Card system already operating within the state. Therefore organisations who are already meeting the requirements of the Blue Card system will be taking active steps to meet the new Child Safe Standards when they are implemented in Queensland on 1 October 2025.
How can Safe Space Legal Help
Safe Space Legal can assist your organisation to review and develop a RMS in compliance with the Blue Card system and provide advice on working towards the implementation of the new Child Safe Standards and Reportable Conduct Scheme so that your organisation is compliant when the new legislation is introduced on 1 October 2025.
The team at Safe Space Legal have extensive experience conducting reportable conduct investigations and work with organisations across Australia to ensure they are meeting their legal obligations when working with children and young people. Safe Space Legal offer a large range of services including:
- Drafting child safety policies, procedures, codes of conduct and complaints handling processes which are compliant with legislative requirements including the Blue Card system;
- Providing tailored child safety training on legal obligations, duty of care, reportable conduct schemes and child safety;
- Conducting child safety and safeguarding investigations which are compliant with relevant state and territory Schemes;
- Providing expert legal advice on safeguarding and child safety matters;
- Conducting audits against the Child Safe Standards to recognise practice and policy gaps and improve organisational safeguarding in preparation of the new legislation; and
- Root cause analysis of child safety incidents to improve organisational safeguarding and compliance with legislative obligations.
Contact [email protected] or call (03) 9124 7321 to organise a complementary discussion in relation to your organisation’s child safety and safeguarding needs.