WICEN Vic: Working with Children Checks

Tue Jul 18 06:23:51 CDT 2017

An interesting discussion.

I have a WWC card, as it is a requirement of my employment as a Coach Driver. (At least the WWC fee is tax deductible….)

I have listed not only WICEN as an “employer” or “interested party”, but also all radio clubs that I belong to, amongst other groups. Most, if not all of us would be members of a Radio Club, who, hopefully, have their fair share of youth coming through the ranks, hence the WWC need. What are the policies of those clubs that you belong to relating to WWC requirements? 

The attitude I’ve taken (both on a professional requirement level and on a private level) is to include every single type of activity, no matter how unlikely, that I may be involved with that may involve minors – camps, sporting activities, transporting of, etc etc. 

I understand the possible concern about “big brother” or similar, but when you have been issued Bus Industry policy documentation (that had to be signed and returned) that warns against ANY contact with a child – including such things as a “high five”, shaking hands, any form of comforting of a child who may be upset or injured, and even just talking with a child (as it may be considered “grooming”) etc etc, one gets very cautious.

My closing comment is that no matter where you go, or what you do, someone around you will have a camera (phone) and a photo of contact with a child no matter how innocent and well-intentioned it may be, can be distributed instantly.

Take care with this issue, and protect yourselves.

Tim.

VK3MIT

From: wicenvic [mailto:wicenvic-bounces at vic.wicen.org.au] On Behalf Of Graeme Brown
Sent: Monday, 17 July 2017 7:00 PM
To: John Elliott <jaellio at gmail.com>
Cc: WICEN EMail List <wicenvic at vic.wicen.org.au>
Subject: Re: WICEN Vic: Working with Children Checks

Hi All,

As a WIA examination assessor I have a WWC Card and as a volunteer for the WIA there is no cost and therefore there should be no cost for volunteers for WICEN. (Hope I am correct).
There have been occasions during WICEN activities in the past when I have either been alone with an audience of children wanting to help or teenagers only assisting at check points; and I have no doubt other members have found themselves in a similar situations. On all occasions I at have had my WWC Card at the ready if questioned and felt justified as a WIA member to do so in the name of "radio communications".

So it is now probably time that the WICEN committee comes up with a policy to cover all members and non members assistants with regard to Working With Children checks. Those with WWC cards  will only need to notify the Department of Justice to add WICEN as an employer if a policy is adopted.

Graeme Brown

On Mon, Jul 17, 2017 at 12:31 PM, John Elliott <jaellio at gmail.com <mailto:jaellio at gmail.com> > wrote:

I have to agree with Mark's comments. If you require all WICEN members to have WWC checks/cards then the committee better get serious about it and formulate a clear plan.

A few years ago now, when I was membership officer WICEN attended an activity where fourteen (14) of the  WICEN operators/assistant operators  , were NOT WICEN members , but had filled out the appropriate  form as temporary members ??.   Now you (committee) have to consider that you will need  to confirm, in writing, that these temporary members (whatever that means) have WWC cards before you can let them participate in an activity under the WICEN banner....

Regards
John Elliott

On 17 July 2017 at 11:57, Mark Dods <madods at optusnet.com.au <mailto:madods at optusnet.com.au> > wrote:

As a Scout Leader I have a current WWC card, so if WICEN decide to require them, it would not inconvenience me.

I also see no harm in individual WICEN members applying for a WWC card or including WICEN on their list of "employers".

However, I would be opposed to WICEN requiring WWC checks, partly because of the administrative overhead for WICEN, but mainly because it is unnecessary and represents bureaucratic "scope creep". The WWC is clearly not intended for everyone who may come into contact with children. (Let's face it, everyone comes into contact with children at some time.) The WWC website says this prominently: "Not everyone who has contact with children needs a Working with Children Check".

The WWC "Who needs a Check" page lists 6 criteria for "Child Related Work", ALL of which must be met for a person to NEED a WWC check. Working for WICEN does not meet the third of these in that none of the listed occupational fields apply to us. "Clubs and Associations" comes close, but the details of that occupational field are "Clubs, associations or movements of a cultural, recreational or sporting nature" (My emphasis) which do not describe WICEN.

It is conceivable that a WICEN member may fail a WWC check, and while that person may therefore not be someone I would esteem, I see no reason why they should not be able to contribute to the community by serving as a WICEN operator.

My 2c (inc GST).

Mark.

On 16/07/2017 9:09 PM, Tony Langdon wrote:

On 16/07/2017 5:17 PM, John and Bronwyn Morrissey wrote:

My view is that WICEN should encourage all members to have WWC, and my understanding is that WICEN (as an incorporated volunteer organisation) should be able to sponsor those wishing to gain WWC.

Personally, I have had WWC for many years and recommend all WICEN members obtaining one too.    

For me personally, it's a non issue.  I already have a WWC, which I ned for both work and volunteer roles, so the only change would be adding WICEN to my list of places where I use it.  On an organisational level, I do see it as a good thing to require WWC for all members.  That's got to be a selling point for operating at any events where there's likely to be children.  Having WWCs also means less risk of having to test those grey areas in court. 

-- 
73 de Tony VK3JED/VK3IRL
http://vkradio.com

_______________________________________________
wicenvic mailing list
wicenvic at vic.wicen.org.au <mailto:wicenvic at vic.wicen.org.au> 
http://vic.wicen.org.au/mailman/listinfo/wicenvic_vic.wicen.org.au

_______________________________________________
wicenvic mailing list
wicenvic at vic.wicen.org.au <mailto:wicenvic at vic.wicen.org.au> 
http://vic.wicen.org.au/mailman/listinfo/wicenvic_vic.wicen.org.au

_______________________________________________
wicenvic mailing list
wicenvic at vic.wicen.org.au <mailto:wicenvic at vic.wicen.org.au> 
http://vic.wicen.org.au/mailman/listinfo/wicenvic_vic.wicen.org.au

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://vic.wicen.org.au/pipermail/wicenvic_vic.wicen.org.au/attachments/20170718/0258a7e1/attachment.html>