Disqualified persons
To help keep children in Queensland safe, some people are disqualified from holding a blue card under the Working with Children (Risk Management and Screening) Act 2000 (the Act).
If you are a disqualified person and you apply for a blue card, we must refuse your application and give you a negative notice.
Who is a disqualified person
You are a disqualified person if any of the following apply to you:
- You have a conviction for a disqualifying offence which you committed as an adult.
- You are subject to offender reporting obligations, an offender prohibition order or an offender prohibition disqualification order under the Child Protection (Offender Reporting and Offender Prohibition Order) Act 2004.
- You are the respondent to an application for an offender prohibition order under the Child Protection (Offender Reporting and Offender Prohibition Order) Act 2004.
- you are prohibited by a court from applying for or holding a blue card because of a disqualification order made under section 357 of the Act, or
- you are subject to a sexual offender order under the Dangerous Prisoners (Sexual Offenders) Act 2003.
What is a disqualifying offence?
Disqualifying offences under Queensland or Australian laws are listed in Schedule 4 or Schedule 5 of the Act.
Similar offences committed in other states and territories outside Queensland are also disqualifying offences.
Some disqualifying offences are:
- murder and attempt to murder
- torture of a child and cruelty to children
- sexual offences against children
- grooming of children and procuring children for sexual acts
- child exploitation material and child abuse material offences
- kidnapping, child-stealing and abduction of a child in contexts other than familial
- rape, attempts to rape or assault with intent to rape
- choking, suffocation or strangulation in a domestic setting, or coercive control involving a child
- bestiality.
Disqualifying offences also include attempting or conspiring to commit, or counselling or procuring the commission of, a disqualifying offence.
What happens if you are a disqualified person?
If you are a disqualified person, you are also a restricted person, and you cannot:
- start or continue in child-related work (paid or voluntary) regulated by the Act
- carry on a child-related business regulated by the blue card system
- work or volunteer in restricted employment.
If you do any of the above, you will be committing an offence and we may ask police to investigate. Significant penalties apply, including terms of imprisonment.
If you apply for a blue card, we must give you a negative notice. You cannot apply to cancel a negative notice if you are a disqualified person.
What happens if you are charged with a disqualifying offence
If you are an applicant or blue card holder charged with a disqualifying offence that has not been finalised, you are a restricted person. We must:
Applicants: Withdraw your application if you were an adult at the time of the offence – you can reapply when the charge is finalised.
Card holders: Suspend your card if you are a card holder, even if you were a child at the time of the offence.
When the charge is finalised, you will become a disqualified person unless:
- you are not convicted (e.g. the charge is dismissed, or you are found not guilty)
or
- you were a child at the time of the offence.
If you do not become a disqualified person and you make a new application or apply to end your suspension, information about the disqualifying offence will be considered in the risk assessment process.
More information
- Find out if you need a blue card before you apply
- blue card risk assessment