I woke this morning to the Attorney-General’s words on Radio National: ten years since the Royal Commission’s urgent recommendations, and still no national overhaul of the WWCC. She spoke of complexity. “The first stage may be implemented in a year. The others? No time frame.” I felt a gut-wrenching combination of frustration and sorrow, why, when it concerns our most vulnerable, are we mired in delays?

Children: our society’s precious members, deserve protection that is swift, unequivocal, and unyielding. Yet here we are, a decade later, still debating frameworks that could keep predators out of childcare rooms.

The system’s fault lines: a fragmented, loophole-ridden framework

The WWCC system in Australia remains fractured across eight separate state and territory schemes, each with its own laws, standards, and processes. The Royal Commission recommended a single national system back in 2015, yet nearly a decade later, the patchwork persists. While a National Reference System was established in 2019 to share WWCC decisions, its integration is incomplete, leaving gaps that allow offenders to slip between jurisdictions. Even more disturbing are the cases where individuals accused, or even charged, with serious sexual offences have continued to work with children while holding valid WWCCs. The recent case of Joshua Brown, charged with more than 70 sexual offences while employed in childcare, is only one example. Another is David Neil Tuck, who allegedly abused children while licensed. In many instances, mobility between states and employers is enabled by inconsistent standards and a lack of real-time alerts.

Appeals and legal technicalities have also undermined the system. In NSW, some convicted or charged individuals have used the tribunal appeal process to have their WWCC reinstated. This prompted Premier Chris Minns to pledge a “one-strike” policy, yet even that remains under consideration rather than implemented. At the same time, there is no consistent, nationwide mechanism for instant notification when a person holding a WWCC is charged with, or found guilty of, a relevant offence. In practice, this means someone could be charged in one state and continue working with children in another, unnoticed. Technology companies like Oho have uncovered hundreds of cases where revoked or expired WWCCs were not identified by employers, illustrating the scale of system failure.

Why Governments stall: complexity or lack of will?

The argument for delay is always framed around complexity, harmonising eight legal systems, integrating databases, ensuring criminal intelligence flows in real time, and balancing legal rights with protective measures for children. There is truth in that complexity, but complexity cannot justify a decade of inaction. These are the same governments that can pass emergency economic measures in days when the market demands it; urgency, it seems, is a matter of political priority. Political risk also plays a role, acknowledging systemic failure invites scrutiny, and implementing reform requires resources, funding, and sometimes uncomfortable trade-offs.

Meanwhile, the pendulum has swung too far toward protecting institutions and procedural fairness for adults, rather than erring on the side of safety for children. Bureaucratic caution masquerades as careful governance, yet it results in the most dangerous form of governance: one that knows the risks and delays addressing them. Promises such as implementing the “first stage” in a year ring hollow without concrete timelines for the rest of the reforms. They are milestones without a destination.