University of Adelaide, Flinders Uni in breach of SA’s child-protection laws

Two of SA’s leading universities have breached the state’s child-protection laws, over nine staff – including academics – working in “prescribed” positions.

Child-protection breaches at two of the state’s leading universities have been uncovered by the state’s Auditor-General, who found several staff members had failed to obtain their required working-with-children checks.

In a report presented to parliament last week, Auditor-General Andrew Richardson explained how internal system failures at University of Adelaide and Flinders University enabled nine academic and other staff members to continue in their employment despite failing to renew their checks.

Two of the three University of Adelaide employees and all six of the academics at Flinders University were employed in “prescribed positions”, defined in the state’s child-protection legislation as roles where interaction with children is either likely or “reasonably foreseeable”.

“We found that Uni Adelaide’s central record of prescribed positions … was incomplete and contained inaccurate data,” the Auditor-General’s report says.

Six academic staff at Flinders University failed to update their working with children checks.

“We found multiple examples of positions identified as prescribed that were not included in the central record and inaccurate data recorded in the central record, including incorrect working-with-children check numbers, employee names and issue and expiry dates.

“Incomplete and unreliable data reduces Uni Adelaide’s ability to centrally report, track and manage the risks of legal compliance with child-protection legislation.”

State laws require employees working in a prescribed position to undertake a Department of Human Services working-with-children check every five years during their employment.

Breaches carry a maximum penalty of $50,000 for employers and $20,000 for individuals if it’s their first or second offence, and $50,000 or imprisonment for a third or subsequent offence.

The Auditor-General’s Department declined to comment further on its findings, referring inquiries to the two universities, which both confirmed that no penalties had been imposed on the universities or the individual employees.

The Auditor-General’s report, which outlined the findings of the department’s 2021 audit of the state’s three universities, noted weaknesses in Flinders University’s manual process for managing working-with-children checks led to six academic staff failing to renew their checks on time.

“Our review of Flinders’ processes to ensure that all staff working in a prescribed position have a current working-with-children check found that there is currently no automated central monitoring or reporting of these checks,” the report says.

The University of Adelaide was found by the Auditor-General to have breached child protection laws.

In a statement, a Flinders University spokeswoman said the university had responded to the Auditor-General’s findings by upgrading and automating its systems.

“Flinders has reviewed all positions to clearly identify and record those for which working with children checks are required,” she said.

“Our policy and procedures have been rewritten, a new centrally-managed process has been implemented, and expiry dates are monitored.”

A University of Adelaide spokeswoman said the university had also made improvements to its child-protection processes.

“In response to the report by the Auditor-General the university has undertaken another round of audits to ensure all relevant positions have a working-with-children check completed,” she said. “Regular reporting is circulated across the university.”