Letters to the Editor

The Ombudsman Replies

"The only teachers with anything to fear are child abusers- a response from the NSW Ombudsman."

It is alarming the NSW Teachers Federation has chosen to generate a climate of anxiety and mistrust amongst the majority of teachers who have nothing to fear from the new child protection legislation. The Federation could have taken a responsible approach to assist teachers understand their responsibility to deal with allegations of child abuse. I refer to the article submitted by the NSW Teachers Federation in Workers Online: News:1990-Issue 20: Child Laws Cause School Camp, Sport Chaos.

The "oppressive" child abuse notification procedures, referred to in the article, have been developed by this Office to assist employees of designated agencies to understand my responsibilities and the new reporting requirements of employees under the Act. They are an interpretation of the Ombudsman Amendment (Child Protection and Community Services) Act, 1998.

The new reporting requirement of the Act is the Parliament's response to the recommendations of the Wood Royal Commission. The commencement of the Act on the 7th May 1999 followed a period of extensive community consultation, which included the Federation. The Royal Commission called for a significant overhaul of the child protection system which was clearly not working. It found evidence of maladministration, corruption and systemic failure to detect and remove from agencies, paedophiles who had access to vulnerable children.

My Office has been given certain responsibilities to reverse this appalling picture and make sure that services, used by children, also protect them. This is what the community expects.

My staff will oversight all investigations by relevant employers, such as DET, of allegations of child abuse against their employees. Our aim is to ensure they are conducted properly and to ensure employees, the subject of allegations, are afforded natural justice.

One of the tests of whether an investigation has been conducted properly is whether procedural fairness has been afforded to all relevant parties, including the accused. Ensuring employees, the subject of allegations, are afforded natural justice, will be a key consideration in monitoring investigations.

The NSW Ombudsman is here to protect the innocent, be they child or teacher, or, for that matter, anybody else who works with children. We have done our best to be fair and reasonable to all concerned for the last 25 years and see no reason why we would change now.

Teachers who act in accordance with acceptable community standards of behaviour, their own professional standards as well as Departmental Codes of Conduct and procedures need fear nothing from the Legislation. The only teachers who should have anything to fear are child abusers.

The definition of child abuse includes assault (including sexual assault), ill treatment or neglect, or exposing or subjecting a child to behaviour that psychologically harms the child. In this last situation, actual harm following the misconduct of an employee would need to be identified, before the matter could be considered an allegation of child abuse.

Any teacher with commonsense would know that the absurd scenario posed by the Federation of the boy not being chosen for inclusion "in the first XV rugby team", on its own, would not constitute an allegation of child abuse.

The Legislation also enables the Ombudsman to investigate complaints from anyone, including employees, the subject of an investigation, regarding the conduct of the investigation. Rather than feel anxious about the role of the Ombudsman in child protection matters, employees should feel reassured that all complaints to the Ombudsman will be dealt with fairly and impartially.

A recent meeting with the NSW Teachers Federation and the NSW Ombudsman clarified a number of the issues of concern to them. The possibility of certain kinds of allegations being exempted in the future from notification was discussed. The NSW Ombudsman expects that, together with the Federation, the rights of children to be protected from child abusers and the rights of employees to natural justice can be achieved.

Irene Moss, AO

Ombudsman

12th July, 1999

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  Issue 25 contents

»	Unions Embrace Open Shop
»	Council Sets Benchmarks for Vizard Deal
»	Steggles Treats Workers Like Chooks
»	Rail Workers on Collision Course with Carr
»	Reith Shamed Into Talk On Entitlement Fund
»	Unionists Asked to Defer NRMA Vote
»	Fire Fighters Use Net
»	Crew of Convenience Behind Sydney Oil Spill?
»	Sixty Junkets Join Currawong Hit Squad
»	Workers Table Petition for Gay Reform
»	Indonesian Trade Union Leaders to Visit Australia
»	International And Community Groups Oppose Reith�s Bill

»	Guest Report
»	Sport
»	Trades Hall
»	Piers Watch

»	Country Labor Asks Question
»	The Ombudsman Replies
»	Confessions of a German Call Centre Agent
»	WorkCover Off the Track

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