Queensland
Exemptions
Not all environments involving children will require a person to hold a blue card.
- You don’t need a blue card if you are a paid employee, volunteer or student and you work for no more than 7 days in a calendar year. A calendar year starts from 1 January and ends on 31 December. A ‘day’ is for any period of time on 1 day, irrespective of whether it is a full day or part day. You cannot rely on the frequency test if you are a restricted person or a running a business.
- You don’t need a blue card if you are a volunteer who is under 18 (a restricted person cannot rely on this exemption). If you continue volunteering after you turn 18, you will need to apply for a blue card. We can accept your application 3 months before you turn 18 and, if it’s approved, your card will be issued on your 18th birthday.
- You don’t need a blue card if you are working alongside a person who is under 18 (e.g. if you supervise a 17-year-old colleague).
- You don’t need a blue card if you are involved in a team, club or group activity that also has members under 18 (e.g. if you participate in an under-20s sports group with a member who is 17).
- You don’t need a blue card if you are supervising a student while they do work experience, including school students.
It is the responsibility of the presenter to check whether they need a blue card or not. Go to the following link for more information https://www.qld.gov.au/law/laws-regulated-industries-and-accountability/queensland-laws-and-regulations/regulated-industries-and-licensing/blue-card/required/individuals
Tasmania
Exemptions
https://www.cbos.tas.gov.au/topics/licensing-and-registration/work-with-vulnerable-people/exemptions
You may not need to register if you qualify for an exemption. An employer or volunteer organisation can still ask you to register even if you are exempt (Section 9 of the Registration to Work with Vulnerable People Act 2013).
You may be exempt if:
- you are under the age of 16
- you are working or volunteering with children for 7 days or less per calendar year
- you hold a current interstate registration in a similar regulated activity and are not a resident of Tasmania
- you are a close relative of the child (this does not apply to kinship carers)
- you are a police officer or a correctional officer
- you are an emergency management worker dealing with an emergency
- you are a school student on a work experience placement or doing practical training
- you are doing the same activity as the child (for example, playing together in a sporting team)
- your only contact with a child is working with a record of them.
Please note:
- the 7 days or less exemption is based on days not hours. Per day includes one event in a day. That is, one hour of parent help at a school or one hour working as a soccer coach for a club/association counts as a day
- if you are a teacher from interstate then you must be registered to work with vulnerable people in Tasmania before you can be registered under the Teachers Registration Act 2000.
It is the responsibility of the presenter to check whether they need a working with vulnerable people card or not. Go to the following link for more information https://www.cbos.tas.gov.au/topics/licensing-and-registration/work-with-vulnerable-people/do-i-need-to-register
Victoria
Exemptions
https://www.workingwithchildren.vic.gov.au/about-the-check/when-you-dont-need-a-check
- People under the age of 18 years.
- Parents who volunteer in activities that their child normally participates in.
- People ‘closely related’ to each child they have contact with in their activity. This exemption does not apply to kinship carers (people who care for a child placed by Child Protection under the Children Youth and Families Act 2005).
- 18 or 19-year-old students volunteering in activities organised by their educational institution.
- Visiting workers who do not usually live in Victoria, and do child-related work in Victoria for a period of up to 30 days and do not do any other child-related work in Victoria in the same calendar year.
- Visiting workers who do not usually live in Victoria and hold an equivalent interstate WWC Check and do child-related work in Victoria for a period of up to 30 days in the same calendar year.
- Victorian or Federal police officers who have not been suspended or dismissed.
- Teachers currently registered with the Victorian Institute of Teaching.
It is the responsibility of the presenter to check whether they need a working with children card or not. Go to the following link for more information https://www.workingwithchildren.vic.gov.au/do-i-need-a-check
Western Australia
Exemptions
Certain people do not require a WWC Check because they fit within the description of an exemption that applies to the specific category or categories of child-related work they engage in.
If a person’s work is covered by an exemption then they are not in child-related work and are ineligible to apply for a WWC Check. There are some general exemptions which apply across all categories while others are specific to a particular category. It is important to consider all the work a person does when deciding whether they are exempt and do not require a WWC Check.
Exemptions which apply across all categories:
1) Child volunteers: work carried out on a voluntary basis by a child.
2) Unpaid students on placement under 18 years of age: work carried out on an unpaid basis by a student under 18 years of age as part of their educational or vocational course of study with an education provider.
3) Short-term visitors to Western Australia:
- applies to work carried out by visitors to Western Australia, where the person is not ordinarily resident in Western Australia; and only applies during the two week period after the person arrives in Western Australia and cannot exceed a total of two weeks in any period of 12 months; and
- cannot be used in conjunction with the one-off national events and national tours exemption (below). A person cannot use both exemptions in the same 12 month period.
It is the responsibility of the presenter to check whether they need a working with children card or not. Go to the following link for more information https://workingwithchildren.wa.gov.au/about/categories-of-child-related-work
New South Wales
Exemptions
https://ocg.nsw.gov.au/working-children-check/who-needs-check
Exemptions include:
- Under 18s
- Workers visiting NSW for a short time
- Parents and close relatives volunteering at their children’s usual school and extra-curricular activities. There are three specific instances when close relatives do need a Check when they are volunteering at school or activities:
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- providing personal care for a child with disability
- participating in a formal mentoring program
- at an overnight camp for kids.
It is the responsibility of the presenter to check whether they need a working with children card or not. Go to the following link for more information https://ocg.nsw.gov.au/working-children-check/who-needs-check