New Child Safe Standards and Universal Principle

The Child Safe Organisations Act 2024 (the Act) commences from 1 October 2025, in a phased implementation approach. Organisations that are deemed ‘child safe entities’ will be required to meet obligations and work towards compliance.

To assist organisations, the Queensland Family & Child Commission (QFCC) has developed two resources: the ‘Guidelines for Implementing the Universal Principle and Child Safe Standards’ (the Guidelines) and a ‘Self-Assessment Tool’ (the Tool). These documents are now publicly available on the QFCC website: https://www.qfcc.qld.gov.au/childsafe/resources

The Guidelines are designed to help everyone who works with children or provides spaces for them to understand how they can contribute to keeping children and young people safe.

The Tool is designed to assist organisations in evaluating current levels of readiness and can be used as a first step by any organisation working with children to reflect on:

• how the Child Safe Standards are currently being implemented;
• where further work may be required;
• the actions that need to be undertaken to improve child safe practices.

Collectively, the Guidelines and Tool can assist organisations to work towards compliance with the Child Safe Standards and Universal Principle. The Guidelines and the Tool are aligned to the National Principles for Child Safe Organisations.