Commonwealth child safe framework statement of compliance

Commonwealth Child Safe Framework Statement of Compliance

Geoscience Australia strongly supports the Commonwealth Child Safe Framework, which sets the minimum standards for creating, maintaining and embedding behaviours and practices that are safe for children. Geoscience Australia treats all allegations and concerns for the safety of children seriously, with zero tolerance for child abuse and exploitation.

Our Child Safe Culture is based on the National Principles for Child Safe Organisations (the National Principles) which guide our approach to promoting safety and wellbeing in all interactions with children and young people. We regularly undertake activities to monitor the effectiveness of our child safeguarding measures. As part of our sustained commitment to child safeguarding and aligning with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, through prevention, protection and participation, our initiatives in 2024–25 included:

• Implementing a dedicated safety service to review and uplift our safety systems, including our controls for child safety.
• Established an organisation safety review and strengthened our risk assessments, accounting for current and emerging child safety risks.
• Initiated procurement for an updated risk management and reporting system to strengthen reporting practices.
• Ensured all staff engaged in child-related work have maintained a Working with Vulnerable People (WWVP) registration in accordance with relevant state-based legislation and regulations.
• Maintained an ongoing annual review to ensure our systems for child safety remain current with the Commonwealth Child Safe Framework.

Our current risk rating for child safety remains low. We continue to monitor and undertake assurance checks on implemented measures.

Our Child Safety Procedure and Protective Security Policy Framework, which includes managing the risks associated with hosting and working with children, directly informs our duty of care. Additionally, all staff must complete annual security awareness training which includes an overview of our Child Safety Procedures, as well as comply with the Australian Public Service values and code of conduct when in contact with children and young people in the course of their duties.

Our activities range from in-person guided tours, and online and community education-based outreach activities. Our public-facing Education Centre implements robust procedures to maintain a proactive culture that safeguards the wellbeing and safety of all visiting school groups, facilitated by experienced educators. Recognising the unique risks with online delivery we have sought to address and strengthen both our online environments through regular updates to our security measures, and through ensuring a consistent understanding of the child safety principles in our practices for all staff interacting with children and young people. To support this, we annually update our venue and safety information, which is distributed to schools prior to visiting the Education Centre and includes our Code of Conduct statement in relation to child safety. The document is available on the Geoscience Australia website.

In line with the National Principles, we remain dedicated to creating a child-safe culture that prioritises the safety, wellbeing, and empowerment of children. We continually strive to improve our practices to ensure children are protected and their voices are heard.

Effective 31 October 2025.