Canberrans working with children and vulnerable adults will be forced to submit to a tough new background checking regime, after new territory laws are expected to be passed today.
More than 40,000 Canberrans would be affected by the Working with Vulnerable People (Background Checking) Bill 2010 if passed in the ACT Legislative Assembly today.
The security checks would prohibit people from working with vulnerable children and adults if they prove to be a risk through the background screening.
ACT Minister for Community Services Joy Burch said Australia's first screening system would centralise and standardise background checks in the capital.
''It provides the statutory background checking and risk assessment system to reduce the incidence of sexual, physical, emotional or financial harm or neglect of vulnerable people in the ACT,'' she said.
''It also provides guidance on the operation of the background checking system.''
Ms Burch also said the ''landmark legislation'' would assure people received the ''best care possible'' from people who had been carefully checked for certain roles.
ACT Council of Social Services director Roslyn Dundas welcomed the legislation, but hoped to develop a scheme that not only made workplaces safer but respected the diverse community sector workforce.
The benefit of the background checks, she said, was that it was consistent and uniform and people only needed to do it once every three years.
''Somebody who is working in volunteer roles and in the community sector in different roles now only needs to take this check once,'' Ms Dundas said.
''The Government has taken on board amendments to make sure there is a panel to review applications and that panel will consist of people with expertise in the community sector workforce.''
Ms Burch said the Education and Care Services National Law (ACT) Bill 2011 was also expected to pass through the ACT Legislative Assembly today, and the law was designed to raise the standards of child-care services in the capital.
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