We’re raising the standards to keep Queensland children and young people safe.
Every child has the right to be safe, no matter where they are.
That’s why Queensland has a new child safeguarding law—the Child Safe Organisations Act—to strengthen our state’s culture of safety and wellbeing for all Queensland children.
Businesses and organisations that work with children in Queensland, or provide services and spaces for specifically for them, will need to be demonstrate they are child safe. This involves implementing 10 Child Safe Standards.
Around 40,000 organisations will need to show they are child safe. This includes small volunteer and community groups and sole traders, through to large and well-established organisations, such as hospitals, schools and churches.
The new law takes effect from 1 October 2025 in a phased approach. Find out when your sector needs to be compliant on our Timeline webpage.
Thank you for taking steps towards strengthening Queensland’s culture of safety and wellbeing for all Queensland children. Read on for information about how you can progress on your journey towards becoming child safe.
The 10 Child Safe Standards
For resources associated with these standards, visit our Resources webpage.
Universal Principle for cultural safety
When organisations implement the Child Safe Standards they must also provide an environment that ensures the cultural safety of Aboriginal children and Torres Strait Islander children. This is known as the Universal Principle.
The Universal Principle needs to be embedded in each of the 10 Child Safe Standards. It has the same importance as each of the Standards and the same enforcement powers can be used to address non-compliance.
If an organisation isn’t culturally safe, it isn’t child safe.
Read more about cultural safety in our Unpacking the Universal Principle news article.
Preparing your business or organisation
Every business and organisation will be at a different stage of its journey to becoming child safe. Use these resources to help you prepare:
- a detailed Guideline to implementation
- a Self-Assessment Tool to help you understand where you are at and plan the actions you’ll need to take
- a Quick Reference Guide.
For more tools to prepare your business or organisation visit our Resources webpage.
Reportable Conduct Scheme
The Child Safe Organisations system features two parts:
- the 10 Child Safe Standards
- Reportable Conduct Scheme.
The Child Safe Standards will come into effect from 1 October 2025 through a staged approach.
Starting from 1 July 2026, some entities will also need to introduce a Reportable Conduct Scheme. For more details about the scheme visit our Reportable Conduct Scheme webpage.
Last updated
25 June 2025
