Keeping sport and recreation safe

In Queensland, the sport and recreation industry have obligations to protect children and adults from harm through the provision of safe environments.

Your organisation needs to consider which obligations apply:

National Integrity Framework

Sport Integrity Australia combines the functions of the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority, National Integrity of Sport Unit and the nationally-focused integrity functions of Australian Sports Commission.

The National Integrity Framework is a suite of policies that set out the broad expectations for the conduct of all participants in sport including safeguarding children and member protection.

The Framework policies include:

• Safeguarding Children and Young People Policy
• Member Protection Policy
• Improper Use of Drugs and Medicine Policy
• Competition Manipulation and Sport Gambling Policy
• Complaints, Disputes and Discipline Policy

More than 80 recognised National Sporting Organisations and National Sporting Organisations for People with Disability have adopted the Framework and its policies. See the full list of sports signed up to the Framework.

Blue Card System

The blue card system regulates activities to create safe environments for children through:

• blue card screening
• ongoing monitoring
• child and youth risk management strategies.

A person is required to hold a blue card if their work relates to sport or active recreation and includes providing services to children or conducting activities with children. Exemptions may apply in some circumstances.

Organisations and people who run businesses regulated by the blue card system must have a child and youth risk management strategy.

Child safe organisations

The National Principles for Child Safe Organisations provide a consistent approach to creating organisational cultures that foster child safety and wellbeing.

The National Principles are:

1. Child safety and wellbeing is embedded in organisational leadership, governance and culture.
2. Children and young people are informed about their rights, participate in decisions affecting them and are taken seriously.
3. Families and communities are informed and involved in promoting child safety and wellbeing.
4. Equity is upheld and diverse needs are respected in policy and practice.
5. People working with children and young people are suitable and supported to reflect child safety and wellbeing values in practice.
6. Processes to respond to complaints and concerns are child focused.
7. Staff and volunteers are equipped with the knowledge, skills and awareness to keep children and young people safe through ongoing education and training.
8. Physical and online environments promote safety and wellbeing while minimising the opportunity for children and young people to be harmed.
9. Implementation of the national child safe principles is regularly reviewed and improved.
10. Policies and procedures document how the organisation is safe for children and young people.

These principles are based on the Child Safe Standards arising from the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses for Child Sexual Abuse.

Learn more about the National Principles and the tools and resources available to help create a child safe organisation.

Mandatory reporting

Queensland law has been strengthened to increase protection of children from the risk of sexual abuse. The offences target behaviour that ignores or hides the sexual abuse of children:

• failure to report: All adults in the community that reasonably believe (or should reasonably believe) that a child is being or has been the victim of sexual abuse must report it to the police – unless they have a reasonable excuse.
• failure to protect: Adults in an institutional setting (including sport and recreation clubs) must protect children from the risk of a sexual offence being committed against them.

Adults in positions of power or responsibility within an institution that has children in its care, supervision and control will be required to reduce or remove a known risk of sexual offending against a child by an adult associated with an institution. How an adult can remove or reduce risk will depend on the situation. Adults should not have to adopt unnecessarily expensive or risk-averse behaviour.

Find out more about these offences and what you need to do.

Civil liability of institutions

Legislative changes make it easier for child abuse survivors to pursue a claim for personal injury damages arising from the abuse. The reforms are in response to the recommendations by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

The changes include:

• Institutions are now subject to a new statutory duty to take all reasonable steps to prevent abuse of a child in their care, control, supervision or authority. The responsibility is on the institution to demonstrate that it has taken all reasonable steps to prevent the abuse.
• Certain limitation periods have been removed for survivors to commence court proceedings for damages for personal injury relating to child sexual abuse, serious child physical abuse and psychological abuse connected with child sexual abuse and serious child physical abuse.
• A statutory framework has been established to deal with institutional liability, including in relation to the transfer of liability against defunct institutions to the relevant successor of the institution.
• Institutions can apologise to survivors of child abuse without it being considered an admission of liability.

The legislative changes are complex. Institutions may want to seek legal advice about the implications of the changes including consideration of current record keeping practices.

Human Rights

The Human Rights Act 2019 requires Queensland public entities to act and make decisions which are compatible with the 23 human rights it protects. The Act makes it clear that rights can be limited but only where it is reasonable and justifiable. A person can make a complaint to the Queensland Human Rights Commission if their human rights have been limited by a public entity.

The Queensland Human Rights Commission has a range of resources including case studies, guides, toolkits and fact sheets.

Commencement of Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act 2023

On 29 April 2024, amendments to Queensland anti-discrimination legislation came into force, providing  a more contemporary approach to protection for people with variations in sex characteristics (sometimes referred to as intersex people), and the transgender and gender-diverse community.

While the term ‘gender identity’ previously referred to a person that identifies, or has identified, as a member of the opposite sex by living or seeking to live as a member of that sex, or is of indeterminate sex and seeks to live as a member of a particular sex, changes have been made to this definition that take a modern and contemporary approach. The new definition refers to a person’s internal and individual experience of gender, whether or not it corresponds with the sex they were assigned at birth.

A new protected attribute under the Anti-Discrimination Act 1991 of ‘sex characteristics’ now provides protections for people with variations in sex characteristics.

These changes to provide stronger protection for people with variations in sex characteristics are among other amendments to Queensland’s anti-discrimination laws resulting from the Queensland Government’s staged implementation of the recommendations of the Queensland Human Rights Commission’s Building Belonging Report – Review of Queensland’s Anti-Discrimination Act 1991, handed down in July 2022.

The amendment to the definition of ‘gender identity’ now means that sporting organisations are no longer able to lawfully restrict participation of people with variations in sex characteristics in sporting competitions in Queensland under Section 111 (the sport exemption) of the Anti-Discrimination Act.

This change means sporting organisations need to be aware of how the conduct of competitions for their sport may be impacted, including in relation to alignment with international federation competition eligibility rules, where an athlete has variations in sex characteristics.

It should be noted, however, that the ability to lawfully restrict participation of transgender and gender-diverse athletes under the Anti-Discrimination Act, if the restriction is reasonable having regard to the strength, stamina or physique requirements of the activity, remains unchanged.

Sporting organisations impacted by these changes are encouraged to seek independent legal advice on how they may conduct sporting competitions in Queensland in the current legislative context.

Further information

Further information on the changes to the definition of gender identity and the new protected attribute of sex characteristics is available on the Queensland Human Rights Commission website

National Redress Scheme

The Australian Government established the National Redress Scheme in July 2018, in response to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. The National Redress Scheme (or Scheme) recognises the harm done to people who experience sexual abuse as children and holds responsible institutions, such as sport and recreation organisations, to account for providing appropriate redress.

The Australian Government Department of Social Services, which administers the Scheme, publishes the names of institutions that have joined the National Redress Scheme on the Scheme’s website. Institutions, such as sport and recreation organisations, may proactively seek to participate in the Scheme to demonstrate their support for the redress process. The Queensland Government joined the Scheme in November 2018 and a number of sport and recreation organisations have also joined.

The Department of Social Services also publishes the names of institutions that have engaged with the Scheme but have been assessed as institutions that are unable to participate in the National Redress Scheme, because the institution does not have the financial capacity to provide redress over the life of the Scheme.

If it is determined that a sporting organisation is unable to participate, the Department of Tourism and Sport encourages that organisation to communicate with their affiliated State and/or National Sporting Organisation about representation for participation in the Scheme.

The National Redress Scheme website also publishes the names of institutions that have declined to join the National Redress Scheme. These are institutions that have been named in a redress application but have refused to work or engage with the Scheme to determine if they are eligible to join.

Organisations that have been listed by the Scheme on its website as institutions that have declined to join the National Redress Scheme will not be eligible for grant funding provided by the Department of Tourism and Sport. This approach aligns Queensland with other jurisdictions, including the Australian Government, and the New South Wales and Victorian Governments, which have already established grant funding ineligibility based on National Redress Scheme non-participation.

This approach aims to encourage Queensland sport and recreation organisations to engage with the National Redress Scheme to ensure that survivors of institutional child sexual abuse can access appropriate redress.

Find out more about the support available to people who have experienced institutional child sexual abuse.

Concussion in Australian Sport

Concussion affects athletes at all levels of sports from the part-time recreational athlete through to full-time professional.
If managed appropriate, most symptoms and signs of concussion resolve spontaneously. However, complications can occur, including prolonged symptoms and increased susceptibility to further injury.

The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) resources support the Concussion and Brain Health Position Statement (PDF, 1.4MB) and Australian Concussion Guidelines for Youth and Community Sport (PDF, 1.5MB).

The AIS also recommend completing the Sport-Related Concussion Sport Course which is a 15-minute interactive online course which educated coaches, umpires, staff, volunteers, parents and other interested people to recognise and manage a concussion injury in a sporting context.

You may wish to discuss with your affiliated State/National Level Organisation if there are any sport-specific responses to the Guidelines you should be aware of.