The National Office For Child Safety

The National Office for Child Safety (the National Office) provides national leadership, working across governments and sectors, to deliver national policies and strategies to enhance children’s safety and reduce future harm to children.

Our priorities are:

• Collaborating with governments, sectors and the community to raise awareness and drive cultural change in institutions and the community to support child safety and wellbeing.
• Improving collaboration between jurisdictions and institutions to support design, development and implementation of national strategies and prevention initiatives.
• Promoting the participation and empowerment of children and young people in the design, development and evaluation of child safe initiatives.
• Leading capacity building and continuous improvement of child safe initiatives through resource development, best practice material, evaluation and reporting.

Support Services

The Australian Government understands that the work of the Royal Commission and the information on this website may bring up strong feelings and questions for many people. There are many services and support groups available to assist you. Some options for support and advice are provided below.

Information about the National Redress Scheme is available on the National Redress Scheme website or by calling the National Redress Information Line on 1800 737 377.

24-hour telephone assistance is available through:

• Lifeline - 13 11 14
• 1800 Respect - 1800 737 732
• MensLine Australia - 1300 789 978

A further list of national support services and groups and those specific to each state and territory is available.

About Us

The National Office for Child Safety was established on 1 July 2018. The National Office sits within the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet and reports to the Prime Minister, who is assisted by the Hon Ben Morton MP, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister on the work of the National Office.

The National Office leads the development and implementation of national priorities recommended by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (the Royal Commission), including the National Principles for Child Safe Organisations, Australian Government child safety policies (Commonwealth Child Safe Framework),  a National Strategy to Prevent Child Sexual Abuse and improvements to information to improve child safety. Key institutions which appeared before the Royal Commission also report annually to us in December on their progress in implementing Royal Commission recommendations.

The National Office’s role builds upon existing initiatives such as the National Redress Scheme and the National Framework for Protecting Australia’s Children 2009-2020. The establishment of the National Office does not change the statutory responsibilities of state and territory governments with regard to child protection or law enforcement.

Key activities

National Principles for Child Safe Organisations

The National Principles for Child Safe Organisations (National Principles) give effect to recommendations of the Royal Commission relating to the child safe standards and provide guidance on key actions and performance measures in implementing the standards. They provide a nationally consistent approach to cultivating organisational cultures and practices that foster child safety and wellbeing across all sectors in Australia.

Child Safe Sectors Leadership Group

To inform the National Office’s approach to national initiatives, including the implementation of the National Principles for Child Safe Organisations and development of a National Strategy to Prevent Child Sexual Abuse, a Child Safe Sectors Leadership Group has been established.

The role of the Child Safe Sectors Leadership Group is to promote and disseminate information about child safety requirements and practices throughout sectors working with children and young people with a view to achieving a nationally consistent and evidence based approach to child safety across Australia.

Membership consists of peak bodies and large national organisations in sectors working with children and young people. The membership list is available here.

Commonwealth Child Safe Framework

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (Royal Commission) examined what makes an organisation child safe.  The Royal Commission highlighted the need to provide an environment in which children and young people are safe, protected and respected, and where staff have the skills, confidence and knowledge to safeguard children.

In response, the Australian Government has introduced the Commonwealth Child Safe Framework (the Framework), a whole-of-government policy that sets minimum standards for creating and embedding a child safe culture and practice in Commonwealth entities.

National Strategy to Prevent Child Sexual Abuse

The National Office is overseeing the design and implementation of a National Strategy to Prevent Child Sexual Abuse (the National Strategy).  

The National Strategy will be developed in consideration of the Royal Commission’s recommendations and will encompass a range of initiatives with a particular focus on cultural change, including through education and awareness‑raising, and measures which provide victims of child sexual abuse with access to the right supports at the right time. It will also include specific consideration of the needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, culturally and linguistically diverse communities, people with disability, and regional and remote communities.  

The National Office has concluded initial co-design consultations with non-government stakeholders to understand their priorities for a National Strategy. Stakeholders included: survivors of child sexual abuse and their support organisations, academics, clinical practitioners, child safety experts, non-government organisations and institutions. A report summarising the key themes from the co-design consultations will be made available later in 2019.

As part of its work to develop the National Strategy, the National Office is mapping existing and proposed initiatives, policies and services, which prevent, mitigate and respond to child sexual abuse across Australia.

Consultations

The National Office has completed the first stage of a co-design process to inform the development and implementation of key national initiatives recommended by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse and which are led by the National Office. Throughout this process, the National Office consulted with over 300 individuals, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, victims and survivors of child sexual abuse and their advocates, clinical practitioners, child protection experts, non-government organisations, academics and institutions.

The National Office for Child Safety Public Consultation Report June 2019 reflects the views of these stakeholders.

Reporting

The Royal Commission recommended that non-government institutions and peak bodies involved in child-related work report on their progress implementing the Royal Commission’s recommendations within 12 months of its Final Report.

In its recommendation, the Royal Commission identified ten institutions, which, at a minimum, should report. The National Office worked with those ten institutions to facilitate their annual progress reporting for 2018, and these reports are available on the Child Abuse Royal Commission Response website.

The Royal Commission also recommended that other major institutions or peak bodies that are involved in child‑related work should consider reporting annually.

Arrangements for the next Annual Report will be advised shortly.