The Working with Children Check Across Australia: Eight Schemes Explained

"Working with Children Check" is the name of the scheme in five Australian jurisdictions, but Queensland calls its version the Blue Card, Tasmania the Registration to Work with Vulnerable People, the ACT the Working with Vulnerable People registration, and the Northern Territory the Ochre Card. None of the eight is valid outside the jurisdiction that issued it.

This article compares the eight working with children and vulnerable people schemes operating across Australia's states and territories. It covers scheme names, governing Acts, portability and ongoing monitoring. For fees, validity periods and jurisdiction-specific detail, see the individual state and territory pages linked throughout.

Same Purpose, Eight Different Names

Every Australian jurisdiction requires people working or volunteering in roles involving children, and in some jurisdictions other vulnerable people, to hold a current clearance before they start. The purpose is consistent everywhere; the name, the governing Act and the administering body are not.

See Working with Children Check in NSW, in Victoria, the Blue Card in Queensland, Working with Children Check in WA, in SA, Registration to Work with Vulnerable People in Tasmania, Working with Vulnerable People registration in the ACT and the Ochre Card in the NT for jurisdiction-specific fees, validity and penalties.

Victoria's Check Is Not the "Worker Screening Check"

The Worker Screening Act 2020 (Vic) is the Act that governs Victoria's scheme; it is not a new name for the check itself. Victoria's own government guidance describes "the requirement to obtain a Working with Children Check" as established by the Worker Screening Act 2020, and consistently refers to the underlying product as the Working with Children Check throughout its public-facing pages. A reader who sees "Worker Screening Act" should understand it as the legal instrument behind the Victorian Working with Children Check, not as evidence the check has been renamed.

Queensland's "Yellow Card" Is History, Not a Current Scheme

"Yellow Card" does not appear as a current scheme name on any Queensland Government page as at the date this article was verified. Queensland's current arrangement is the Blue Card, administered under the Working with Children Check Act 2000, alongside a separate clearance for disability work issued under NDIS worker screening or Queensland's own disability worker screening rules. Where a role involves both children and people with disability, Queensland allows a combined application covering both. Someone searching for a "Yellow Card" today should look instead for the Blue Card, or the combined application if the role also touches disability services. See the Blue Card in Queensland for the full detail.

Two Schemes Are Not Child-Only

Tasmania's RWVP and the ACT's WWVP registration are broader than a children-only check. Both cover "vulnerable people", a category that includes adults receiving what each Act calls a regulated activity, not only children. Calling either scheme a "Working with Children Check" understates its scope and can mislead a reader about who needs to hold one. See Registration to Work with Vulnerable People in Tasmania and Working with Vulnerable People registration in the ACT for what "vulnerable person" means in each Act.

None of the Eight Schemes Is Portable

Every jurisdiction requires its own application, its own check and its own fee, regardless of whether the applicant already holds a valid, current clearance from another state or territory. This is the position in all eight jurisdictions as at the date this article was verified. Narrow exceptions exist for short interstate visits rather than relocation: for example, Victoria allows a person who holds a current interstate working with children check to work in Victoria for up to 30 days in a calendar year in connection with a specific event, without needing a Victorian check for that limited purpose. That is an exception to needing a local check for a brief visit, not portability of the check itself, and it does not extend to someone relocating or taking up ongoing work in a new jurisdiction.

Continuous Monitoring: A Clearance Can Be Revoked Mid-Term

Every jurisdiction continuously monitors clearance holders against new police and disciplinary information, rather than only reassessing at renewal. Queensland's Blue Card Services monitors daily. Western Australia can issue an Interim Negative Notice, suspending a person's ability to work in child-related employment immediately while a fuller assessment is carried out. A clearance that was valid when issued is not a guarantee against later suspension or cancellation if new information about the holder comes to the administering body's attention during the clearance's term.

Reform Is Underway, But Full Portability Is Not Here Yet

Governments have committed to national reform of working with children checks, including work towards continuous checking across jurisdictions. The near-term deliverable under that agreement is mutual recognition of negative notices, meaning a person barred from working with children in one jurisdiction would be recognised as barred in every other jurisdiction. That is a narrower step than making a positive clearance itself portable between states. No completion date for that work has been confirmed here, so treat interstate work as requiring a separate check in each jurisdiction until the responsible body says otherwise. As at the date this article was verified, no jurisdiction has implemented positive-check portability, and the eight-scheme structure described above remains the current position for anyone applying today.

This article provides general legal information about working with children and vulnerable people schemes across Australia, verified 21 July 2026. It does not tell a reader whether they personally need a check for a specific role, or whether their own record would affect an application. For advice on your situation, consult a legal practitioner admitted in the relevant Australian state or territory.

Related reading: the background checks hub, national police checks in Australia, spent convictions in Australia, and each state and territory page linked above.