As administrators of junior sporting clubs, ensuring the safety and well-being of young athletes is our paramount responsibility. 

The first step is ensuring that all personnel in child-related positions have a

current and valid Working With Children Check as specified in state and territory legislation. 

Your club must be registered as an organisation with the respective state authority, and you must maintain an up-to-date register of personnel that you then verify with that authority.

Simply checking that your club’s staff and volunteers have submitted a Working With Children Check number when they register in Rugby Xplorer is not sufficient. 

For example, in New South Wales to ensure compliance with WWCC requirements you must:

1. Obtain and verify the WWCC number of all relevant persons engaged in paid or volunteer capacity before the worker commences any work with children, or upon the worker turning 18.
2. Verify the WWCC number of all relevant persons engaged in a paid or volunteer capacity within 5 days of expiry.
3. Ensure that each worker has the correct class of clearance.
4. Refer to resources available on the OCG website to develop a WWCC policy and procedure including a process for dealing with a barred worker and other notifications from the OCG.
5. Develop a handover process and create a document to ensure WWCC requirements are met when WWCC responsibilities are transferred to new workers.
6. Refer to resources available on the OCG’s website to enhance knowledge of, and implement, child safe practices.

To achieve steps 1-3 above, this means exporting the details of any registered staff and volunteers from Rugby Xplorer, and verifying them by logging into the Office of the Children’s Guardian website. Therefore your club must first register as a child-related organisation and maintain up-to-date contact information with the OCG.

The bulk of this work can be completed on an annual basis by your club secretary or similar. Though it is important to set reminders and check periodically if you see during this annual check that, either:

• A person’s WWCC is due to expire during the season, or
• A volunteer is due to turn 18 during the season
• A new coach or volunteer joins during the season, after initial appointments have been made

Each Australian state and territory has its own WWCC system. Here's a summary of the minimum requirements:

- Required for anyone in child-related work

- Valid for 5 years

Learn more at the Office of the Children’s Guardian website: https://ocg.nsw.gov.au/ 

Take a Child Safety Self Assessment

- Mandatory for all volunteers and employees working with children

- Valid for 5 years

Learn more at vic.gov.au

- Required for most people working with children

- Valid for 3 years

Learn more about Blue card obligations for organisations

- Mandatory for people in child-related work

- Valid for 3 years

Learn more about Working With Children Check Obligations and Compliance at wa.gov.au

- Required for most people working or volunteering with children

- Valid for 5 years

Learn more about Employer role and obligations at sa.gov.au

- Mandatory for child-related work

- Valid for 3 years

Learn more about Employer obligations at cbos.tas.gov.au

- Required for most people working or volunteering with children

- Valid for 5 years

Learn more about Working with Vulnerable People compliance and reporting for sporting clubs at accesscanberra.act.gov.au

- Mandatory for child-related employment

- Valid for 2 years

Learn more about employers or volunteer coordinators responsibilities at nt.gov.au

Remember, these are minimum requirements. Your association may have additional policies in place. Always check with your state or territory's relevant authority for the most up-to-date information and specific requirements for sporting organisations, or visit the Australian Government’s Australian Institute of Family Studies website for more detailed resources.

Rugby Australia’s Child Safeguarding Policy details a range of Child Safe Practices that your club should adopt to ensure a high level of safety, and to identify and prevent behaviour that may be harmful to Children.

Furthermore, creating, communicating and adhering to your own policies that may be unique to your situation is the most effective way to create and maintain a safe environment for children and vulnerable people within your club community.