Child safety crisis: 800 stripped of Blue Cards amid demands for national overhaul

Shock data has revealed almost 800 Queenslanders had their working with children passes cancelled after falling foul of the law, as advocates push for tougher regulations.

Shock data shows almost 800 have been stripped of their Blue Cards in Queensland.

Almost 800 Queenslanders had their working with children passes cancelled last financial year after falling foul of the law, new data has revealed.

But child safety advocates warn there is no system to flag concerning behaviour that falls below a criminal threshold — meaning predators good at hiding their tracks could be operating unnoticed.

And even when a Blue Card is cancelled, the onus shifts to the worker’s employer to terminate them.

Advocates are calling for a robust national reportable conduct scheme so red flags could be logged. And this should go hand-in-hand with a national Working with Children’s Check system.

The Courier-Mail’s “Keep Them Safe” campaign is calling on state and federal leaders to establish a national, public and searchable register for Working with Children Checks.

Setting up the register would fulfil a key recommendation of the 2018 Royal Commission into child sexual abuse.

In Queensland, the Blue Card system is linked to the state’s police system and updated daily. Auditors then immediately cancel cards for workers charged or convicted of a criminal offence.

Department of Justice data shows in 2024/25, 758 Queenslanders had their Blue Card cancelled following police charges or convictions.

Another 3712 people who applied for a Blue Card were denied clearance.

A total of 288 potential breaches of Blue Card rules were referred to police.

One in five Queenslanders hold a Blue Card.

PeakCare chief executive Tom Allsop said Queensland’s system can be applied nationally if legislative barriers were removed, but a robust reportable conduct scheme was still urgently needed to flag concerning behaviour that falls below a criminal threshold.

Child protection advocate Hetty Johnston.

“The Blue Card system is a strong reactive safeguard for identifying people once they are charged with an offence so they can be removed from child-related work,” he said.

“Each state screens differently. The barriers are not technical but rather longstanding inconsistent laws and policies which requires political will to change.

“In Australia today, one in every four children will experience sexual abuse before they turn 18. This is a national crisis which demands a national response.”

Mr Allsop said a consistent worker screening checks and a national worker register are long overdue and critical for keeping kids safe.

Renowned child protection advocate Hetty Johnston said there was “no excuse” as to why the Queensland screening system couldn’t be incorporated nationally.

“The national office of child safety are working their buts off, they’re under resourced,” she said.

“All of this stuff should have been done a very long time ago.”

Premier David Crisafulli earlier this week said he would continue lobbying the federal government for both a national register and national working with children check, as recommended by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse more than seven years ago.

The state government is also in the midst of a significant review into systemic issues of its child protection and Blue Card system.

“The whole idea about the Blue Card review is to make sure that if things can be improved, they will be and if in the course of that review, there are things that need to be implemented immediately, they will be done,” Mr Crisafulli said.

From July 1, 2026, early childhood organisations will be required to comply with a new Reportable Conduct Scheme to be overseen by the Queensland Family and Child Commission that will allow concerning behaviours of childcare staff and volunteers to be flagged and recorded.

Attorney-General Deb Frecklington has also raised child safety incidents at the latest council meeting of Attorney-Generals.

“We are fast-tracking a Reportable Conduct Scheme for the early childcare sector so reports of suspicious behaviour can be acted on, before more young lives are torn apart by these monsters,” she said.

Originally published as Child safety crisis: 800 stripped of Blue Cards amid demands for national overhaul