A child means a child or young person, or two or more children or young persons, who is or are under the age of 18 years. To meet their obligations to these young people, clubs and Discover Sailing Centres, even class associations have certain obligations under the National Integrity Framework and the Child Safeguarding Policy.

Each organisation has to accept the commitment to child safeguarding, and then implement and comply with the various practices that action their commitment. These are things such as making sure that employees and volunteers involved in children’s sailing understand their role and the behaviour expected. Clubs need to have measures in place to minimise the likelihood that they will recruit people who are unsuitable to work/volunteer with children. Staff, volunteers, and participants should be inducted with information about their commitment to child safeguarding and how to respond to child abuse allegations. These obligations are listed in detail in Annexure B of the Child Safeguarding Policy.

Individuals have obligations as well. Everyone has a responsibility to respond to child abuse allegations in the proper way and report concerns. If being considered for a position that is working with children, naturally there is an obligation to provide truthful information during the club’s recruitment and screening processes. Ultimately we all have to comply with all obligations that we are subject to under the Australian Child Protection Legislation.

A good place to understand these obligations is the Child Safeguarding in Sport Induction offered by Sport Integrity Australia. The course is excellent for anyone involved in running sailing clubs with racing or training involving children. The course will provide the basic knowledge required to understand and implement the Child Safeguarding Policy.

The Child Safeguarding in Sport Induction is here.
An online induction about the National Integrity Framework and its policies can be done here.
The National Integrity Framework and its policies are here.

For further information please contact glen.stanaway@sailing.org.au.