Child Safety Statement

Child Safety Statement 2025

Commonwealth Child Safe Framework

October 2025

The Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications, Sport and the Arts (the department) is committed to ensuring the safety and wellbeing of children and young people by creating and maintaining practices that are safe for children. The department supports a culture where children and young people who have contact with, or are affected by the work of the department, are safe, protected and respected.

This Statement outlines the department’s child safety risk profile and highlights work we’ve done to strengthen child safety in the past 12 months. This includes compliance with the four core requirements of the Commonwealth Child Safe Framework (the Framework).

Our interaction with children

As an organisation that values connection and enriching Australian communities, the department recognises the importance of working with children and young people in a variety of settings. The department has varying degrees of interaction with children, including:

  • Health, education and administrative services provided to children within the external Australian territories of Jervis Bay, Norfolk Island, and the Cocos (Keeling) and Christmas Islands. This includes roles such as nurses and education assistants, who have direct contact with children, in some cases without a parent or guardian present.
  • The Australian Government School Leaver program and associated apprenticeship programs.
  • Engagement with young people through the Creative Industries Youth Advisory Group which helps young people connect with government, especially in relation to setting the minimum age of 16 for using social media accounts
  • The provision of third-party agreements and grants that provide services for, or interact with children, and
  • A Child Safety Officer and support team, responsible for the oversight of child safety issues, who may occasionally come into contact with children through the department’s public feedback and complaints portal.

Compliance with the Commonwealth Child Safe Framework

Requirement 1: The department has undertaken a risk assessment of child-related activities to evaluate, control and treat risks associated with working with children.

Ongoing reviews and management of the child safety risk assessment are conducted to identify positions that involve working with children, positions that require working with children checks, and third-party agreements that provide services to children and young people. An emphasis on good governance is at the centre of controlling these risks. The department has specific grant and procurement guidelines to ensure agreements meet the standards set by the Framework.

Based on the findings of the risk assessment and the department’s mitigation strategies, the overarching risk rating for child safety in 2025 is medium.

To mitigate risks posed to children, the department has developed policies and procedures, including a comprehensive Child Safety Policy which sets clear responsibilities, processes and expectations for all staff. Practices are in place across the department to mitigate risks to child safety, including screening of staff through Police checks and Working with Children Checks (WWCC).

Requirement 2: The department provides a system of training and compliance commensurate with its activities and risk profile. This includes:

  • Child safety training at induction for staff working in roles identified as having contact with children.
  • Training developed by the National Office for Child Safety (NOCS) on the Framework to ensure staff are aware of their obligations.
  • Individual compliance processes for business areas that engage in child-related work, with all staff in these roles subject to ongoing screening.
  • Undertaking an annual stocktake of child-related positions and third-party agreements to provide further assurance of ongoing compliance with the Framework.
  • Additionally, the department has implemented additional child safe training to support its existing suite of training and compliance guidance. The eLearning module, Child safety — it’s everyone’s business was developed by the department to increase awareness of the Framework and legislative compliance, recognising inappropriate behaviour and harm, building a child safe culture, and reporting harm to a child.

Requirement 3: The department has continued its work to embed the National Principles for Child Safe Organisations through:

  • Engagements with senior staff to highlight their roles and obligations towards child safety.
  • Outreach to areas of high risk which face challenges in regards to staff retention and turnover, cultural barriers, and accessing information through standard departmental communication channels.
  • Streamlining existing pathways for making complaints and reporting serious offences.
  • Ongoing reviews and management of key resource documents to help staff embed child safety principles into their work.
  • A dedicated SES Child Safety Officer who drives a positive child safety culture and oversees child safety processes and complaints management.
  • A Child Safety Policy that details our commitment to child safety through staff responsibilities, legislative obligations, risk management, equity and diversity, recruitment and performance, complaints handling, and training to provide clear information to staff on how the department ensures child safety.
  • Availability of a dedicated, anonymous complaints and feedback portal, available on the department’s website, to manage complaints and concerns.
  • Child safe resources, available on the department’s intranet and distributed to business areas that engage in child-related work, informing children and their parents/guardians of their rights and how to speak up and get help.

Requirement 4: The department published this Statement of Compliance on its public facing website by 31 October 2025 in accordance with the Framework.

Further information

For more information, including how you can report child safety concerns for this Department, please visit our Child Safety Resources page.

Child safety initiatives and measures

The department recognises that continuous improvement is essential to building and maintaining a child safe culture. Over the past 12 months, the department has:

  • Developed online training, targeted at all staff across the department. Masterclass training for SES officers is proposed for 2026.
  • Engaged with staff across all areas of the department to explore their child safety exposure points, and to assist with the adaptation of the child safety principles.
  • Identified improvements to child safety reporting systems to strengthen governance and accountability, and
  • Conducted significant reviews of the Child Safety Policy, Risk Assessment and guidance material to make them fit-for-purpose.

The measures outlined in this statement will further support the department to achieve high child safety standards and a positive child safe culture to strengthen compliance with the Framework.