Lesson 21: Child Protection Legislation (TAS)

Legislation

Sporting organisations should put in place strategies to develop child safe environments and minimise access to their organisation.
There are no requirements in Tasmania for sport and recreation organisations to undertake extra strategies to provide a safe environment for children (e.g., risk management strategies). However, this is encouraged as it is seen as important in keeping children safe.

Vicarious liability

Vicarious liability describes the principle in law which says that, depending on the circumstances, an organisation can be held responsible for the behaviour of its employees (including staff, volunteers and contractors), unless:
it can be shown that all reasonable steps were taken to prevent the behaviour from happening in the first place
there were appropriate policies and procedures in place for dealing with the behaviour when it occurred.
The same principle applies to governing bodies and clubs.

Mandatory reporting

Sporting personnel need to be aware that because of the large number of children participating in sport and the closeness of relationships formed, they may come across children being abused or who disclose their abuse to them. This abuse may be occurring within or outside of sport.
In Tasmania, the Children, Young Persons and their Families Act 1997 requires members of certain professions to report known or suspected abuse or neglect of children to the Department of Health and Human Services. However, individuals who work in sport or recreation organisations are not included in this category.
Regardless, anyone who has reasonable grounds for suspecting that a child or young person is being neglected or abused should report it.

Working with Vulnerable People check and Police check