National Office for Child Safety (NOCS)
Leads national child safety policy, including working with children check reform
The Commonwealth body coordinating a reform it cannot legislate. Working with children checks are made under eight state laws.
Responsibilities
- Lead national child safe policy and the National Principles for Child Safe Organisations
- Coordinate working with children check reform across jurisdictions
- Report on implementation of Royal Commission recommendations
The structural position is the one this database records in domain after domain: the Commonwealth holds the policy leadership and the national convening role, and eight state screening units hold the statutory power.
Reform therefore proceeds by agreement, through the Standing Council of Attorneys-General, at the pace of the slowest willing jurisdiction. The Agreement to Deliver National Working with Children Check Reform was endorsed in November 2025 — a decade after the Royal Commission recommended national consistency.