Federal working with children check system could take a year to set up, attorney general says

Labor under pressure to overhaul checks system for childcare workers, which the prime minister described as ‘hopeless’

A national working with children’s check system could take up to 12 months to set up, the federal attorney-general said, as Anthony Albanese decried the current industry safeguards as “hopeless”.

Ahead of a meeting of the nation’s attorneys-general on Friday, Michelle Rowland said the group’s “most immediate and urgent” priority was to create a system that ensured those working with children who were “banned in one” state were “banned in all”.