Working with Vulnerable People, including children

The National Indigenous Australians Agency (NIAA) welcomes the report of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (the Royal Commission) and acknowledges the significant amount of work undertaken by the Royal Commission over the five years of its inquiry.

The NIAA is committed to making Australia a safe place for all children and shares this responsibility with all members of the community, institutions and Australian Government grant recipients. Therefore, in response to the Royal Commission, the NIAA is making a number of internal and external changes to strengthen how we protect young and vulnerable people in our community.

One of the changes is in the way in which Australian Government grant recipients manage and comply with Working with Vulnerable People (WWVP) including children requirements within state and territory legislation.

What are the changes?

From 1 July 2018, the all grant recipients will need to provide confirmation of the following to the NIAA annually:

• Undertake a risk self-assessment to determine the grant recipient’s level of contact with vulnerable people, including children, for all activities funded by the NIAA.
• If the level of contact with vulnerable people, including children is low, medium, high or extreme:
  • have in place a risk assessment  for the funded Activity/Activities to identify the level of risk of harm or abuse to vulnerable people, including children, and implement appropriate strategies to manage those risks;
  • have in place staff compliance and training regimes regarding WWVP for the funded Activity/Activities; and
  • ensure that all staff who have contact with vulnerable people for the Activity/Activities funded by the NIAA comply with all relevant State or Territory WWVP legislation.

Where can I get further information?

Please contact your agreement manager if you have any questions or require further information.