Record number of Blue Cards processed in a challenging year

The number of Blue Card applications (including authorisations and exemptions) processed in the 2010–11 financial year has hit a new high of 298,750. In comparison, 284,398 applications were processed in 2008–09 and 279,781 in 2009–10.

Commissioner Elizabeth Fraser said, "The Blue Card Team has worked tirelessly to achieve this result this year, and what many people may not know, is that this new record has been achieved while also meeting a series of significant challenges."

"Some of these challenges we set for ourselves at the start of the year as a means of strengthening the Blue Card system, while others, like the closure of the Commission’s building for three weeks in January due to the floods, were unexpected," Ms Fraser said.

During the year the Commission has worked with stakeholders to strengthen the Blue Card system by:

• Implementing legislation to reduce duplication of criminal history screening. These changes have simplified the process for many thousands of applicants, but in the short term added some complexity to the Commission’s internal processes.
• Implementing new information sharing arrangements across the nation, which have resulted in more comprehensive information being returned from other states and territories. This has increased the volume of applications returning a criminal history, and subsequently has required more detailed assessments to determine eligibility to work with children.
• Developing and implementing a new Blue Card database with the capability and capacity to accommodate the new processes and increased volumes.

"In some instances, advancing these major projects on schedule unfortunately affected our normal processing, but we are on­track for 2011–12 and employers, volunteer organisations and Blue Card applicants will all benefit from these initiatives in the years ahead.

"The Blue Card system provides a world­class level of support to organisations in helping keep children safe in regulated service environments and we highly value the input from our stakeholders, which has helped shape and prioritise the work effort," Ms Fraser said.

During the year, the Commission prevented 677 high risk individuals from working with children and monitored the eligibility of over 500,000 Blue Card holders to continue their work with children on a daily basis.

"I’d like to thank our partners for their continued commitment, understanding and assistance in helping us to build a robust and effective system for safeguarding children," Ms Fraser said.

Last Updated: June 20, 2011

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