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Volunteers want State Government to fast-track changes to background checks
Background checks in South Australia are valid for three years and must be manually updated or renewed.
The Government is promising to move the application process online from July but the state’s peak volunteer body says the ability to update information in real-time is still years away.
This means people who commit crimes before they are required to renew their clearance could be continuing to work with vulnerable people undetected.
Volunteering SA & NT chief executive Evelyn O’Loughlin said a real-time system was “the highest priority”.
“A real-time system where people’s details and information can be checked online and be given out (to employers or volunteer organisations) straight away would probably be the answer,” she said.
“You don’t have to wait three years to get (an update) ... and any changes that occur to a person’s status are updated straight away.
“I believe the State Government is working towards that system but it's a way off.”
Prospective volunteers and employees are waiting months in some cases for a background check to clear as the system struggles to cope with increased demand resulting from stricter screening requirements.
Up to 150,000 people are expected to need background checks to work with children or other vulnerable people this financial year.
Ms O’Loughlin said governments around the country should be negotiating a “harmonised system”.
“Why not have one system that gives you the highest level of screening and everyone agrees to it?” she said.
The Opposition is calling on the Government to investigate introducing a so-called Blue Card system like that operating in Queensland and Western Australia.
Liberal volunteers spokesman Tim Whetstone said the Blue Card system was like a “one-stop shop” option.
Users apply once for a background check which allows them to work or volunteer across a range of roles, such as with children, the elderly or disabled or vulnerable people.
SA’s current system requires applicants to apply individually for a clearance to work in those different roles.
Mr Whetstone said delays under the current system were inconvenient and “embarrassing” for volunteers who were missing out on opportunities.
Communities Minister Zoe Bettison said the clearance letter given by SA authorities was equivalent to a “physical Blue Card”.
She said SA “could potentially” move to a single check for all employees and volunteers but this would mean more in-depth checks and longer processing times for some people.
“I would not advocate that way,” she said.
Ms Bettison said if a person with a clearance committed a recorded offence authorities could revoke a clearance, but a review underway was considering how “we can tighten that ability”.
The Advertiser reported today that there are about 4000 people waiting longer than 30 business days for a background check.
That figure is down from almost 9000 in February.
Ms Bettison said that 83 per cent of applications were processed within 30 business days but in thousands of more complicated cases the process took longer.
Ms Bettison and Ms O’Loughlin both conceded “over-screening” was adding to pressure on the system.
Ms O’Loughlin said some organisations “want to have a recent screening even though the government policy around it is that a screening can last three years”.
She said the cost of applying for multiple clearances, at $55 each, was also putting some people off volunteering or prompting them to apply for roles which did not have as strict requirements.
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