A conversation with Willow Duffy, Chief Executive at Safeguarding Children, and Nicola Robinson, Acting Executive Director of Queensland’s Worker Screening Services What if checking whether someone is safe to work with children was not limited to a one-off police vet? In this special Child Safeguarding Week release, we look across the Tasman at Queensland’s Blue Card system, which has been helping safeguard children for 25 years. Unlike a standard police check, the system assesses a broad range of child safety information, continuously monitors cardholders and alerts linked organisations if someone’s eligibility changes. Nicola explains how the system works and shares that, in the last financial year alone, more than 6,000 high-risk cases were identified where people were prevented from working with children. Willow and Nicola also discuss information sharing, concerning behaviour that may fall below the criminal threshold, organisational accountability, and the importance of connecting separate pieces of information to identify potential risks. With Queensland and New Zealand having similar-sized populations, this timely conversation asks: could a system like this help keep children safer here too?

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