New Victorian Working With Children laws may ruin junior sport events

JUNIOR sporting events could be ruined by red tape this weekend amid confusion about strict new working with children rules.

Tough new Working With Children restrictions will be felt in junior sport this weekend. Generic picture

JUNIOR sporting events could be ruined by red tape this weekend amid confusion about strict new working with children rules.

Volunteers, officials and anyone with regular contact with children in grassroots sports will be required to hold a valid working with children permit, under changes that took effect on Monday.

Thousands of assistant coaches, mum-and-dad volunteers, canteen workers and even people cooking a sausage sizzle or running water bottles to children will need permits for the first time.

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VICTORIAN PUBLIC SCHOOL CLEANERS POTENTIALLY WORKING WITHOUT BACKGROUND CHECKS

Attorney General Martin Pakula says the law changes will “help protect children from abuse”. Picture: Hamish Blair

The changes are designed to clamp down on people preying on children and there have been 28,000 Victorian applications for permits since June.

But there are concerns the changes make it difficult for clubs to attract volunteers or for smaller clubs to even field a team.

Adults regularly involved in sport, school or community work where children are present face fines or even jail if they don’t undergo checks.

Fines of up to $182,000 or two years in jail apply even if they are being supervised by another adult.

Little Athletics Victoria chief executive Anthony McIntosh said the changes would pose “a significant burden”, even impacting ground announcers and communications officers.

“It creates a larger to-do list and while the intent behind it is good, it has consequences which make life more complicated for sports which are largely volunteer driven,” Mr McIntosh said.

“Some people may feel like their children are safer... but for lots of sports, us included, attracting and retaining volunteers is already hard.’’

About 110,000 Victorian volunteers have undergone police checks this year ahead of the laws, including hundreds of Auskick co-ordinators.

Previously, people working with children only needed a permit if they had “direct contact”, defined as “physical or face-to-face oral communication”.

The state government changed that definition to also include contact by post, telephone, email or other electronic communication.

VOLUNTEERS FEEL IMPACT OF NEW KIDS’ SAFETY BLITZ

Basketball Victoria chief executive Nick Honey said there were pros and cons to the changes.

“There has certainly been discussion this could be the catalyst for people putting up their hand to say ‘I can’t score or be a team manager because I don’t have the check’,’’ Mr Honey said.

“But while there may be a few opportunistic people out there most people volunteer because they want to.’’

Attorney-General Martin Pakula said the changes would “help protect children from abuse”.

“Every parent wants their child to be safe when they are in the care of others,” he said.

Across Victoria, more than 1.1 million people now hold WWC cards.

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