News
4 October, 2025
Tougher child safety laws take over Queensland
From September 20, changes to Queensland’s Working With Children legislation expand requirements for a blue card, now including more people who work closely with children in industries such as entertainment and amusement parks, sports, churches and clubs, educational services, and the legal profession.
Key reforms include:
Setting consistent rules for parent volunteers.
Introducing new self-disclosure requirements.
Establishing a simpler disqualification framework.
Allowing blue card authorities to suspend a card immediately if notified of a risk to children’s safety.
Strengthening compliance powers and making decision-making more responsive to risk.
A new “position of authority” criminal offence will protect 16- and 17-year-olds from sexual interactions with adults in positions of care, supervision, or authority. Convictions carry a maximum penalty of 14 years’ imprisonment.
Additionally, the existing offence of “repeated sexual conduct with a child” now extends to adults in positions of care, supervision, or authority with 16- or 17-year-olds, with a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.
Protections for victims of sexual violence are also strengthened: non-contact orders are extended from two to five years, and the maximum penalty for breaches increases to three years’ imprisonment or 120 penalty units, aligning them with domestic and family violence orders.
