Child Safety

NATIONAL GALLERY COMPLIANCE STATEMENT 2023

Commitment to child safety

The National Gallery of Australia is committed to keeping children and young people safe.

We promote a zero-tolerance culture that does not permit or tolerate child harm or abuse of children or young people. Our organisation has developed documentation, policies, procedures and processes across recruitment, the environment, communications, and issues management to ensure they are sensitive to the needs, wellbeing and safety of children and young people.

The National Gallery of Australia is committed to providing a stimulating, safe and friendly environment for children and young people to enjoy and learn about art, whether they are visiting with their families, in school, independently or with other groups, or participating in programs and events across our onsite, online, and touring and outreach environments.

Interaction with children

As a national cultural institution, the National Gallery has a remit to share the national collection with all Australians. Safety of children and young people is considered in the context of all Gallery activities, including visiting public spaces at the National Gallery in Canberra, engaging through our website or other online forums, and participating in education and public programs onsite, online or through outreach initiatives.

The National Gallery offers a range of learning programs for children and young people. Our workshop and tour experiences are designed with age-appropriate content with best practice supervision and capacity ratios to support a safe and meaningful learning environment. Exhibition and programming content related to First Nations culture is developed by or in close collaboration with First Nations peoples to ensure it is presented in a culturally informed and safe way.

The National Gallery promotes the voices of children and young people and places a high priority on their participation and empowerment as community members. The National Gallery Youth Council engages young creatives from across Australia aged 15 to 25 years to represent and advocate for young people at the National Gallery.

All our staff, volunteers and contractors are required to undergo Police Checks as part of induction. Services and activities involving children are delivered by National Gallery staff or volunteers who are required to hold Working With Vulnerable People registrations. Third-party providers may be engaged to work on specific programs with children and young people, for example exhibiting artists or arts education specialists. Artistic Agreements, Creative Services Agreements, Letters of Agreement and any Contract between the Gallery and a third-party provider who will be working with children and young people include relevant clauses outlining requirements for compliance with relevant state and federal legislation and with the Gallery’s Child Safety and Wellbeing Policy.

The National Gallery is dedicated to sharing art and creating cultural experiences that expand minds, provoke ideas and ignite imaginations but recognises that children and young people need to be protected from material likely to harm or disturb them. While most of our artistic content is not subject to classification under the Classification Act (1995), we refer to the classifiable elements and impact measurements identified in the Act as a framework to understand community standards of material. Through viewer advice and other mechanisms, we support families and communities to decide how their child/young person participates with content on display without impacting presentation of works of art per original artist intent.

Outcome the 2023 child safety risk assessment

In 2023, the National Gallery’s annual risk assessment determined its overall child safety risk rating to be ‘medium’. Key risk areas identified in the assessment included: culture and policy, staff and contractor suitability, communication, information management, issues management and environment. The assessment considered each engagement environment - onsite, online and on-tour - separately to acknowledge the unique risks of each. Contractor and staff suitability was separated into two separate risk areas this year to acknowledge the need to consider each separately. Overall, the risk assessment confirmed the suitability of existing child safety measures, controls and systems, and identified some new initiatives to further mitigate risks.

The National Gallery understands that managing child safety risks is an ongoing process. The Gallery has a general feedback and complaints procedure in line with the Gallery’s Service Charter. Following a successful pilot in 2022, a dedicated register records child safety matters and treatments as they emerge to support continuous improvement and risk assessment. The 2023 risk treatment plan has been developed to guide implementation of treatments identified in the 2023 assessment.

Compliance with the Framework

The National Gallery is compliant with the Commonwealth Child Safe Framework, the core requirements of which are: (i) undertake annual risk assessments, (ii) establish a system of training and compliance, (iii) adopt the National Principles for Child Safe Organisations, and (iv) publish an annual statement of compliance. The 2023 risk assessment outlined new initiatives to support improved compliances and alignment with the CCSF (see below). Our Council owns and monitors this policy through the Governance Committee. Our dedicated Child Safety Working Group ensures compliance and provides advice and guidance on issues arising.

2023 child safety initiatives

This year, the Child Safety Working Group focused on embedding initiatives from 2022 and building great awareness in the organisation. New terms of reference and an annual calendar supports greater governance and issues management. The Child Safety and Wellbeing Policy (2019) was reviewed and an updated version will be released in late 2023. The new policy documents include the Child Safety and Wellbeing Policy, Child Safe Framework and a dedicated Reporting Procedure.

Training and staff education this year focused on updating the e-learning course for all staff to incorporate the new processes and systems. New content including FAQs, new guidelines and templates, was developed to accompany the training for all staff to access on the intranet and use in day-to-day work. Annual upskilling of heads of department took place in June ahead of the launch eLearning course. Managers are regularly reminded on the new system for monitoring Working With Vulnerable People (WWVP) registrations using improved tracking and reporting. Bespoke training was developed for front of house staff including visitor experience hosts, educator and volunteer guides, combining theory and scenario-based practical components. Dedicated contractor induction training has also been developed for roll out to third-party providers next year.

For the first time, the National Gallery marked National Child Protection Week in September, focusing on staff engagement opportunities. All staff presentations and communications were delivered during the week and staff invited to a lunch and learn webinar screening from the eSafety Commissioner on ‘Online boundaries and consent’.

This year, the National Gallery’s Conditions of Entry were updated to include child safety information. The updated conditions now require that children under 12 must be accompanied by an adult at all times; and that parents/carers ensure that children and young people comply with the Conditions of Entry and take steps to manage the viewing of content that may be unsuitable for young audiences, using the viewer advice signage provided for relevant exhibitions/and or works of art.

Following significant research and advice on managing child safe display of artistic content in 2022, this year, we implemented several new processes that empowers families to navigate our spaces in an informed way without impacting the artistic intent or experience. The National Gallery maintained its Approved Cultural Institution Exemption status under the Classification Act to support appropriate display of two unclassified films as part of the Saturday Screening program.

Please note the National Gallery’s Child Safety Policy has recently been revised and rereleased in April 2024. The Gallery is currently aligning our procedures and guidelines. While these updates are made, the Gallery follows our existing formal complaint management procedures and policies, Privacy Policy and Conditions of Entry guidelines to manage any child safety incidents and complaints.