New Child Safe Policies from Gymnastics Australia and changes to the South Australian Legislation.
Gymnastics South Australia is committed to the safety, wellbeing, and empowerment of all children accessing our programs and services including indigenous children, those from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds and children and adults with disability.
Gymnastics Australia’s Child Safe Policy and Member Protection Policy are part of the organisation’s proactive and preventative approach to uphold our commitment to the safety, wellbeing, participation and empowerment of all children who access our activities, programs, services or facilities.
The Member Protection Policy and the new Child Safe Policy should be read in conjunction with each other. The Child Safe Policy outlines the Codes of Behaviour expected when dealing with children, whilst the Member Protection Policy outlines the general Codes of Ethics and Behaviour for specific cohorts within the sport. It also outlines the discipline by-law and appeals process.
Both policies apply to anyone involved in the sport of gymnastics in Australia including (but not limited to) employees, members, parents/guardians, spectators, volunteers, judges and other officials. For a comprehensive list of who is bound by these policies please refer to Section 1.3 of the Member Protection Policy and Section 3 of the Child Safe Policy.
To download copies of the documents click here
New Legislation
From 1 July 2019, South Australia’s child-related employment and volunteer screening will be replaced with a new Working With Children Check (WWCC), as legislated under the Child Safety (Prohibited Persons) Act 2016. The introduction of the new legislation is being led by the Department of Human Services (DHS).
As an organisation that already had required mandatory child related screenings, there are not wholesale changes to how we operate.
One new change is that anyone 14 years old or over will now require a screening, the previous minimum age requirement was 18 years.
Please continue to use the same link and GSA will continue to assist you and your club to ensure we are compliant.
Key features of the new law include:
- Only the Department of Human Services (DHS) Screening Unit can conduct and issue a WWCC.
- Individuals will be able to apply for a WWCC from 1 July 2019.
- WWCC are valid for 5 years instead of the current three years.
- A WWCC will be portable across jobs and organisations, anywhere in South Australia.
DHS has commenced a public promotion and education campaign. Members of sport and recreation organisations are encouraged to familiarise themselves with information available on the DHS website.