A liaison officer has been appointed to support safe ministry representatives as governments implement a new accreditation scheme for church workers and volunteers.

The Rev Neil Atwood, (above) who is the executive assistant to Bishop Ivan Lee, now also takes on a part-time role liaising with parish safe ministry representatives.

“Their work has just become much more complex,” Mr Atwood says about the role of the person appointed in each parish as a contact, who also ensures that safe ministry practices are being followed.

“As the new ‘Working with Children Check’ comes onstream, the requirements for parishes increases, and so helping reps establish good record keeping and other compliance practices is important.”

Mr Atwood says his role will include providing advice and support to the parishes as well as helping develop policy, training and resources. Monitoring Diocese-wide compliance will also be needed.

“With the previous phase of the ‘Working with Children Check’ we had to get all of our clergy and lay staff validated by the end of March which we did – we had them [done] by the end of January,” he says.
The second phase involves making sure all volunteers in child- related activities in churches are registered. “It’s exactly that same process that the paid staff went through, involving a trip to a motor registry to lodge a form, except that volunteers do not have to pay for their ‘Working with Children Check’ number,” he says. While ensuring paid staff were registered was a logistical challenge, Mr Atwood says the volunteer checks are even more so. “We actually don’t know how many volunteers we have in the Diocese, but we figure it will be between 5000 and 10,000.”

The initial response to the new position has been positive. Mr Atwood says he’s already had contact with at least 60 safe ministry representatives and motivation and enthusiasm have been high. Despite the increase in paperwork, he says, “I think this is something we should welcome because this gives us a much higher degree of confidence that the people who are working with children and young people in our parishes do not have any past convictions – or even past offences that may not have been recorded as convictions – against their name anywhere in Australia.”

Mr Atwood is also realistic about the challenge of getting so many people registered, but says the new check is an important part of screening for safe ministry. “While it is another process to do and it can be a hassle, it is only once every five years and I think that is a small price to pay.”