Waching daily Feb 18 2019

[Megan] Across Australia kids want to grow and learn in safe spaces. [Girl] My favourite thing

at school is playing with my friends. [Boy] My coach is like my second dad [Girl] I get

to draw pictures and make stuff. [Scout] I love being in the scouts because of the kind of people

that it produces. [Boy] All of my friends are pretty much through sport. [School child] I have a lot of

trust in my teacher. [Megan] And parents want to know they're in good hands.

[Mother 1] Having that peace of mind and knowing that their child is safe is absolutely

everything. [Mother 2] It's like basically the most important thing to know that your

children are safe when you're not with them. [Father 1] My son's safety when I am not at

the ground, if I'm travelling for work is paramount. [Megan] My name is Megan Mitchell

and I'm the National Children's Commissioner my role is to promote the

rights and interests of all children across Australia and part of that means

keeping them safe. As a community we need to make sure the rights of children are

upheld. But the Royal Commission found that organisations engaging with

children like schools, clubs and youth groups weren't doing enough to protect

them. The Australian Government is committed to ensuring that all

Australian children are kept safe and well to help achieve this the

Commonwealth, State and Territory governments together with the Australian

Human Rights Commission have been working to establish a nationally

consistent approach to child safety and well-being in organisations. As a result

a set of national principles have been endorsed by the Council of Australian

Governments to help organisations build safe environments and cultures for

children. The National Principles are closely aligned with the 10 Child Safe

Standards recommended by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses

to Child Sexual Abuse with a broader scope, that goes beyond sexual abuse and

covers other forms of harm to children. The Principles apply to organisations of

all shapes and sizes across Australia such as: early childhood services,

schools, out-of-home care, sports clubs, churches, youth groups, health services

and youth detention centres. The ten principles cover all aspects of what the

organisations need to do to keep children safe, and they cover a range of

important areas. So let's take a closer look at these ten important measures. The

first two principles focus on getting your organisational culture right - this

includes: governance and leadership and young people learning about their rights

and being active participants. [Boy Scout] A lot of these points are making sure youth

members are listened to and also how do they report if they feel unsafe.

[Girl] If something goes wrong, and I don't have anyone to tell, then it's just going to keep on bothering me.

[Megan] Principles three and four are about the role of families and communities in

creating child safe spaces and the importance of respecting equity and

diversity. [Coach] It's extremely important for the whole community to be involved in

ensuring that there's safety in all sporting codes and all community events.

[Father 2] If we don't respect and embrace diversity, we're setting our children to

fail in the future. [Megan] Principles 5, 6 & 7 look at how organisations recruit the

right people, handle complaints in the best possible way, and ensure that staff

have the ongoing training they need. [Coach 2] All of our coaches and managers have working

with children checks. [Teacher] It's also really important for us to follow policies and

procedure that over-arch everything we do in child care [Teacher] Making sure that

everybody understands exactly what's required of them and exactly what they

need to do should a report come across their desk. [Megan] Principle Eight is about

creating safe spaces for children in both physical and online environments.

[Mother] Organisations need to be really, really careful that they're using that

technology in a safe and responsible way and also that they're educating children

that had a user responsibly themselves. [Megan] Online safety is critical -- the Australian

government recognises this through the Office of the e-Safety Commissioner. You

can find more information tools and resources on the website of the e-Safety

Commissioner. The final two principles focus on making

sure that organizations have child safe policies and procedures in place and

that they review these on a regular basis. [Scout] The review process for us like is

important it's a foundation of the way we do scouting. It's a 'plan, do and review',

so we're always reviewing. [Teacher] So we can follow the policies and procedures in

place if an incident does occur. [Megan] By implementing these principles,

organisations such as yours will demonstrate their leadership and

commitment to child safety and well-being. Organisations that implement

the principles will become organisations of choice because children, families and

communities will trust that they will provide safe environments for our kids.

The National Office for Child Safety was established as part of the Australian

Government's response to the Royal Commission. The national office will work

with government and organisations to promote and support the implementation

of the National Principles and at the Australian Human Rights Commission we've

developed a range of practical tools and resources to help organisations put the

National Principles into action. You can find these on the child safe

organisations website. As Australia's Children's Commissioner I am just so

proud that we now have a national benchmark for keeping kids safe from

harm. [Teacher] Safeguarding children and young people

is everybody's business. [Coach] Share this video with other clubs, other community groups

[Teacher] So that we can make everywhere safe for children. [Scout] Keep Scouts safe! [Boy] Keep your club safe.

[Kids] (yelling) Keep us safe! [Megan] For more information visit the National Office for Child Safety website,

Contact the Child Rights team at the Australian Human Rights Commission,

subscribe for updates or visit the Child Safe Organisations website. This video

was produced with funding from the Australian Government and the National

Office for Child Safety. [ends]