Victorian Current Acts Victorian Current ActsAfter Part 4 of the Spent Convictions Act 2021 insert —
(1) Subject to subsection (4), a specified person or body who is disclosing a spent conviction or information relating to a spent conviction must, before making the disclosure, take reasonable steps to determine if the spent conviction is a spent childhood conviction.
(2) Subject to subsection (4), a specified person or body who determines that they are disclosing a spent childhood conviction or information relating to a spent childhood conviction must, at the time of the disclosure, give notice of that fact to the person or body to whom the disclosure is being made.
(3) Notice given under subsection (2) must be in the prescribed form and contain the prescribed particulars.
(4) Subsections (1) and (2) do not apply to any of the following disclosures under Part 3—
(a) disclosure to a law enforcement agency that is not a Victorian law enforcement agency;
(b) disclosure to a court or tribunal that is not a Victorian court or Victorian tribunal;
(c) disclosure to a person or body under section 21(1)(c), (3) or (3A), 22A, 22B, 22C, 22D or 22E;
(d) disclosure to a person or body under section 22, if the disclosure is made by—
(i) a child wellbeing information sharing entity or restricted information sharing entity for a purpose under the Child Wellbeing and Safety Act 2005 ; or
(ii) a family violence information sharing entity for a purpose under the Family Violence Protection Act 2008 ;
(e) disclosure to a person or body for the purpose of performing a function or duty imposed by, or exercising a power conferred under, the Children, Youth and Families Act 2005 in relation to a child who is or may be—
(i) a child in need of protection within the meaning of section 162 of that Act; or
(ii) a child in need of therapeutic treatment within the meaning of section 244 of that Act;
(f) disclosure to any of the following—
(i) a public body of another State or Territory that corresponds to the Department of Government Services;
(ii) the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency;
(iii) the Registrar of Marriage Celebrants;
(iv) the Registrar or Ministers of Religion;
(v) the Secretary to the Department of Home Affairs of the Commonwealth;
(vi) the Secretary within the meaning of the Narcotic Drugs Act 1967 of the Commonwealth;
(g) disclosure to a prescribed person or body for a prescribed purpose.
(5) To avoid doubt, this section does not apply to a disclosure by a Victorian court or a Victorian tribunal.
(6) In this section—
"specified person or body" means any of the following—
(a) a Victorian law enforcement agency or a contractor, employee or member of a Victorian law enforcement agency;
(b) a person or body specified in column 1 of the Table at the foot of section 22, other than the following—
(i) the Commission for Children and Young People;
(ii) Court Services Victoria;
(iii) a public body of another State or Territory that corresponds to the Department of Government Services;
(iv) the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency;
(v) the Registrar of Marriage Celebrants;
(vi) the Registrar or Ministers of Religion;
(vii) the Secretary to the Department of Home Affairs of the Commonwealth;
(viii) the Secretary within the meaning of the Narcotic Drugs Act 1967 of the Commonwealth;
(c) a prescribed person or body.
(1) Subject to subsection (2), a Victorian law enforcement agency, or any contractor, employee or member of a Victorian law enforcement agency, must not use a person's spent childhood conviction or information relating to a spent childhood conviction for the purpose of performing a law enforcement function in relation to the person.
(2) Subsection (1) does not apply to the use of a spent childhood conviction or related information by any of the following—
(a) a person or body performing a function or duty imposed by, or exercising a power conferred under, the Children, Youth and Families Act 2005 in relation to the protection or therapeutic treatment of a child, including any of the following—
(i) making an application under Chapter 4 of that Act;
(ii) preparing a report under Chapter 4 or Part 7.8 of that Act;
(b) a person or body performing a function or duty imposed by, or exercising a power conferred under, the Child Wellbeing and Safety Act 2005 ;
(c) a person or body performing a function or duty imposed by, or exercising a power conferred under, the Family Violence Protection Act 2008 ;
(d) any of the following persons in the performance or exercise of an administrative function or power of a Victorian court or Victorian tribunal—
(i) an employee or member of the staff of the Victorian court or a Victorian tribunal;
(ii) a member of the staff or a contractor of Court Services Victoria;
(e) a prescribed person or body using the information for a prescribed purpose.
(1) Subject to subsection (2), in a civil or criminal proceeding, a Victorian court or a Victorian tribunal must not use a party's spent childhood conviction, or information about the conduct to which a party's spent childhood conviction relates, for the purposes of assessing the party's character in a way that is adverse to the party.
(2) Subsection (1) does not apply to the use of a spent childhood conviction or related information for any of the following purposes—
(a) performing a function or duty imposed by, or exercising a power conferred under, the Children, Youth and Families Act 2005 in relation to the protection or therapeutic treatment of a child, including any of the following—
(i) conducting a proceeding under Chapter 4 of that Act;
(ii) making an order under Chapter 4 of that Act;
(iii) referring a matter for investigation under Division 2 of Part 5.2 of that Act;
(b) performing a function or duty imposed by, or exercising a power conferred under, the Family Violence Protection Act 2008 ;
(c) performing a function or duty imposed by, or exercising a power conferred under, the Child Wellbeing and Safety Act 2005 ;
(d) a prescribed purpose.
(1) Subject to subsection (3), a person or body must not use a spent childhood conviction or information relating to a spent childhood conviction for any of the following purposes—
(a) to refuse, revoke, suspend or terminate the accreditation, clearance, employment, licence or registration of the person who is the subject of the spent childhood conviction;
(b) to refuse, revoke, suspend or terminate any appointment, privilege or status of the person who is the subject of the spent childhood conviction.
(2) In the application to a person of an Act, subordinate instrument or agreement for the purposes of exercising a power described in subsection (1)(a) or (b)—
(a) a reference to a conviction, however expressed, is to be taken not to refer to a spent childhood conviction; and
(b) a reference to a person's character or fitness, however expressed, is not to be taken as allowing or requiring account to be taken of a spent childhood conviction.
(3) Subsection (1) does not apply to the use of a spent childhood conviction or related information by—
(a) any of the following persons or bodies in performing a function or duty imposed by, or exercising a power conferred under, the Child Wellbeing and Safety Act 2005 —
(i) a child wellbeing information sharing entity;
(ii) a restricted information sharing entity;
(iii) a Child Link user;
(b) a person who is disclosed information under section 41Y of the Child Wellbeing and Safety Act 2005 , if the use of the spent childhood conviction or related information is for the purposes of managing a risk to a child's safety;
(c) any of the following persons or bodies in performing a function or duty imposed by, or exercising a power conferred under, the Family Violence Protection Act 2008 —
(i) a family violence information sharing entity;
(ii) the Central Information Point;
(iii) an authorised Hub entity;
(d) a person who is disclosed information under section 144M of the Family Violence Protection Act 2008 , if the use of the spent childhood conviction or related information is for a family violence protection purpose within the meaning of that Act;
(e) any of the following persons in the performance or exercise of an administrative function or power of a Victorian court or Victorian tribunal—
(i) an employee or member of the staff of the Victorian court or a Victorian tribunal;
(ii) a member of the staff or a contractor of Court Services Victoria;
(f) the Commission for Children and Young People;
(g) a law enforcement agency that is not a Victorian law enforcement agency or an employee, contractor or member of a law enforcement agency that is not a Victorian law enforcement agency;
(h) a court or tribunal that is not a Victorian court or a Victorian tribunal;
(i) a public body of another State or a Territory or the Commonwealth;
(j) a prescribed person or body for a prescribed purpose.
(1) A person must not use a spent childhood conviction or information relating to a spent childhood conviction in a particular manner if—
(a) the use of the spent childhood conviction or related information in that manner contravenes section 24B or 24D; and
(b) the person knows that the use of the spent childhood conviction or related information in that manner contravenes section 24B or 24D.
Penalty: 60 penalty units.
(2) Subsection (1) does not apply to any of the following—
(a) a Victorian court in any proceeding;
Note
This includes a committal proceeding.
(b) a Victorian tribunal in any proceeding;
(c) any person acting judicially.".