Ian Bentley has been busy understanding for our club the ramifications and obligation of new and more stringent "Working with Children" laws which were introduced in 2017 against the backdrop of the Royal Commission findings on past abuses on children in the community and various organisations.
His address to the club highlighted and explained many of the new requirements and reasons for them.
Some key points were:-
Pedophilic statistics note possible offenders approach 2-5% of the adult male population.
Offences have criminal penalties and harsh financial fines
Relates to employers (with a very wide definition catching volunteers such as HRC)
Any intentional or advance knowledge of interaction with children needs WWC clearance
Rotary District's advice is that an individual members WWC must be complemented with the Rotary Youth Declaration Form. (Ian noted and thanked HRC members for their 100% compliance).
The separate legal entity nature of HRC necessitates that it have rigid processes and record keeping re the WWC issue to satisfy the law but most importantly to comply with our (and Rotary's) Insurer's demands and hence not invalidate any claims on which we seek relief.