Law Compliance Report - current edition - Report - Page 15
August 2024 Edition
Western Australia Update
Parliamentary Commissioner Amendment (Reportable Conduct) Act
2022 (WA)
On 1 January 2024, the remaining provisions of the Parliamentary Commissioner Amendment
(Reportable Conduct) Act 2022 (WA) (the Amending Act) commenced and amended the
Parliamentary Commissioner Act 1971 (WA) (the Act).
The key changes introduced by the Amending Act are discussed below.
The addition of new relevant entity types
•
By way of background, the Reportable Conduct
Scheme (the Scheme) applies to relevant entities
and compels the head of those entities to notify
allegations of, or convictions for, child abuse by
their employees to the Ombudsman Western
Australia and then to investigate these allegations.
– a provider of a homelessness service that
provides overnight beds specifically for children
as part of its primary activities and is funded by
the department principally assisting in the
administration of the CCS Act;
– a provider of boarding facilities for students
who are children;
Pursuant to section 19I of the Act, a relevant entity
is an entity set out in column 2 of Schedule 2 of the
Act that:
•
•
•
– a provider of any other accommodation or
respite services for children, provider of any
other accommodation or respite services for
children.
is not exempt under section 19O(1) of the Act.
Religious bodies:
– A religious body that provides, or has provided,
activities, facilities, programs or services that
provide a means for adults to have contact with
children (such as altar serving, art groups, bible
study groups and religious community
engagement and outreach)
•
– an entity that provides overnight camps for
children as part of its primary activity; and
exercises care, supervision or authority over
children as part of its primary functions or
otherwise; and
Column 2 of Schedule 2 of the Act has now been
amended by the addition of the following three (3)
new entities, with the affect being that the Scheme
now applies to them:
Providers of disability services:
– A service provider as defined in section 3 of the
Disability Services Act 1993 (WA);
– A registered provider of supports and services
under the National Disability Insurance Scheme
established under the National Disability
Insurance Scheme Act 2013 (Commonwealth);
Providers of accommodation and respite services
for children:
The addition of new reportable conduct
types
The Amending Act has amended the definition of
reportable conduct under section 19G of the Act to
now also include the following conduct:
•
significant neglect of a child; and
•
any behaviour that causes significant emotional or
psychological harm to a child.
The inclusion of ‘significant neglect’ in the definition
of reportable conduct is intended to be consistent
with the definition of reportable conduct in other
relevant jurisdictions. Conduct such as supervisory
neglect, physical neglect, educational neglect and
emotional neglect all constitute significant neglect.
The inclusion of ‘any behaviour that causes
significant emotional or psychological harm to a
child’ in the definition of reportable conduct is also
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