Overview
Robust legislation, regulation and oversight are foundational to the protection and care of vulnerable Australians, and Mission Australia is fully committed to ensuring the safety of its service users and care recipients more broadly. The current system of worker screening checks is difficult for employers and workers to navigate and work with, with key challenges including: the number of checks required to work across multiple jurisdictions, sectors and programs; inconsistent legislation and requirements between jurisdictions and sectors; duplication across checks and systems; and language and accessibility barriers for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) workers, particularly those living and working in remote communities.
To best address existing challenges and enhance the care and support economy over time, Mission Australia strongly supports a single national check that replaces all existing checks. We believe that this option best safeguards children, service users and other care recipients by removing the gaps caused by fragmentation across jurisdictions, sectors and programs. A single national check, underpinned by the key design elements and features described in the National approach to worker screening in the care and support economy Competition Review, would streamline service delivery, administrative and compliance processes and improve consistency and portability for workers while reducing duplication and administrative and economic costs. Detailed planning, co-design and consultation with service users, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, CALD and LGBTIQA+ groups, and careful implementation processes will effectively support the transition to a single national check.
Mission Australia believes that a single national worker screening check is the simplest, safest, and most efficient way to strengthen the integrity of worker screening while supporting labour mobility and workforce growth in the care and support economy.