{"id":"childrens-court-regulations-2008","name":"Children's Court Regulations 2008","slug":"children-s-court-regulations-2008","collection":"regulation","jurisdiction":"wa","status":"in_force","isInForce":true,"actNumber":null,"makingDate":null,"administeringDepartment":null,"currentVersion":{"id":174288,"registerId":"wa-childrens-court-regulations-2008-current","compilationNumber":null,"startDate":"2026-04-05","status":"InForce","reasons":null,"registeredAt":null},"sections":[{"sectionNumber":"1","sectionType":"section","heading":"Children's Court Regulations 2008","content":"![Crest]()Western Australia\n\nChildren’s Court of Western Australia Act 1988\n\nChildren’s Court Regulations 2008\n\nWestern Australia\n\nChildren’s Court Regulations 2008\n\nContents\n\n1. Citation 1\n\n2. Commencement 1\n\n3. Access to Court’s records 1\n\nNotes\n\nCompilation table 3\n\nEditorial changes table 3\n\nDefined terms\n\n  \n\nChildren’s Court of Western Australia Act 1988\n\nChildren’s Court Regulations 2008\n\n##### 1. Citation\n\n\t\tThese regulations are the *Children’s Court Regulations 2008*.\n\n##### 2. Commencement\n\nThese regulations come into operation as follows:\n\n(a) regulations 1 and 2 — on the day on which these regulations are published in the *Gazette*;\n\n(b) the rest of the regulations — on the day after that day.\n\n##### 3. Access to Court’s records\n\nFor the purposes of section 51A(3)(j) the following persons are prescribed —\n\n(a) the CEO as defined in the *Working with Children (Screening) Act 2004* section 4;\n\n(b) an officer of the Department assisting the CEO in carrying out a criminal record check as those terms are defined in the *Working with Children (Screening) Act 2004* section 4;\n\n(c) the CEO as defined in the *National Disability Insurance Scheme (Worker Screening) Act 2020* section 5(1);\n\n(d) an officer assisting the CEO in carrying out a criminal record check as those terms are defined in the *National Disability Insurance Scheme (Worker Screening) Act 2020* section 5(1);\n\n(e) the chief executive officer of the department of the Public Service referred to in the *School Education Act 1999* section 228 (the Education Department);\n\n(f) a person holding, acting in or performing the functions of the position of Deputy Director General in the Education Department with responsibility for the operation of schools;\n\n(g) an officer of the Education Department assisting a person referred to in paragraph (f) in considering education options for a child who is or has been charged with an offence involving harmful behaviour.\n\n[Regulation 3 amended: SL 2021/26 r. 4; SL 2022/156 r. 4.]\n\n![]()\n\nNotes\n\nThis is a compilation of the *Children’s Court Regulations 2008* and includes amendments made by other written laws. For provisions that have come into operation, or versions that include editorial changes made under the *Legislation Act 2021* Part 3, see the compilation table. For provisions affected by editorial changes see the editorial changes table.\n\nCompilation table\n\n| **Citation** | **Published** | **Commencement** |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n| *Children’s Court Regulations 2008* | 22 Aug 2008 p. 3667-8 | r. 1 and 2: 22 Aug 2008 (see r. 2(a));<br>Regulations other than r. 1 and 2: 23 Aug 2008 (see r. 2(b)) |\n| *Attorney General Regulations Amendment (NDIS) Regulations 2021* Pt. 2 | SL 2021/26 26 Feb 2021 | 27 Feb 2021 (see r. 2(b)) |\n| *Children’s Court Amendment Regulations 2022* | SL 2022/156 9 Sep 2022 | r. 1 and 2: 9 Sep 2022 (see r. 2(a));   Regulations other than r. 1 and 2: 10 Sep 2022 (see r. 2(b)) |\n| ***Children’s Court Regulations 2008* with editorial changes as at 14 Jun 2024** | | |\n\n\nEditorial changes table\n\nThe *Legislation Act 2021* Part 3 authorises the Parliamentary Counsel to make editorial changes to laws. This power cannot be used to change the effect of a law. If an editorial change is made to a law, the law has effect as if the change had been made by another law that amended the law and commenced on the day on which the change is made.\n\nTo see the editorial changes included in a version of a law, see the compare document for that version on the WA Legislation website.\n\n| **Provision/s affected** | **Authorising provision of *Legislation Act 2021* Part 3** | **Effective date**   **of change** |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n| r. 3(a) and (b) | s. 25(2) | 14 Jun 2024 |\n\n\nDefined terms\n\n*[This is a list of terms defined and the provisions where they are defined. The list is not part of the law.]*\n\n**Defined term Provision(s)**\n\nEducation Department 3\n\n© State of Western Australia 2024.\n\nThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence (CC BY 4.0). To view relevant information and for a link to a copy of the licence, visit www.legislation.wa.gov.au.\n\nAttribute work as: © State of Western Australia 2024.\n\nBy Authority: GEOFF O. LAWN, Government Printer\n","sortOrder":0}],"analysis":{"issue_detection":{"absurdities":[],"contradictions":[]},"kimi_summary":{"content_quality":"ok","complexity_score":2,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"The legislation remains tightly focused on its original purpose of prescribing specific persons who may access Children's Court records under section 51A(3)(j) of the parent Act. The 2021 and 2022 amendments simply added additional categories of prescribed persons (NDIS screening officers and specific Education Department officers) to reflect new statutory schemes and operational needs, without expanding beyond the core function of access prescription."},"complexity_factors":["Only 3 substantive regulations (1 citation, 1 commencement, 1 operative provision)","Single operative provision (regulation 3) contains a straightforward list of 7 specific office-holders/roles","No nested definitions, conditional logic, or cross-references beyond simple citations to other Acts for term definitions","Minimal amendment history (only 2 amendment instruments since 2008)","No exceptions, exemptions, or procedural requirements beyond the basic prescription of persons"],"plain_english_summary":"This is a short piece of Western Australian law that sets rules for who can look at confidential records from the Children's Court.\n\n**What it does:**\nThe Children's Court handles cases involving children (usually criminal matters or child protection issues). Normally, court records are private. But sometimes government agencies need to see these records to do their jobs properly—like checking if someone is safe to work with children or people with disabilities.\n\n**Who gets access:**\nThis law lists specific people who can access these otherwise private records:\n\n- **The CEO and officers** from the Working with Children Screening unit (who check if people have criminal records before letting them work with kids)\n- **The CEO and officers** from the NDIS Worker Screening unit (who do similar checks for disability workers)\n- **Senior Education Department staff**, including the CEO and Deputy Director General responsible for schools\n- **Education officers** who help figure out schooling options for children who have been charged with offences involving harmful behaviour\n\n**Why it matters:**\nThis law balances privacy (keeping children's court records confidential) with public safety (making sure the right government officials can check records when making decisions about who can work with vulnerable people or what education support a child needs)."},"flash_summary_failed":{"failed":true,"reason":"Unauthenticated. Configure AI_GATEWAY_API_KEY or use a provider module. Learn more: https://ai-sdk.dev/unauthenticated-ai-gateway","source":"analysis-cron"},"flash_summary":{"complexity_score":3,"scope_assessment":{"changed":true,"description":"Yes. The original 2008 regulation prescribed access for screening and Education Department officials; amendments in 2021 and 2022 explicitly added or updated persons under the NDIS worker‑screening scheme and senior Education Department roles (see SL 2021/26 Pt.2 and SL 2022/156). Editorial adjustments to r.3(a) and (b) were recorded 14 June 2024. The changes broadened the list of authorised officials and rely on updated cross‑references to external statutes."},"complexity_factors":["Short instrument with narrowly focused substantive effect (prescribes eligible persons for record access).","Multiple cross‑references to external Acts: Working with Children (Screening) Act 2004, National Disability Insurance Scheme (Worker Screening) Act 2020, School Education Act 1999.","Reliance on defined terms (eg. 'CEO', 'officer', 'Deputy Director General') defined in the external Acts increases interpretive dependence on those texts.","Amendment and commencement history (SL 2021/26; SL 2022/156; editorial changes 2024) requires checking versions to confirm current scope.","Low legislative discretion: list is prescriptive rather than delegatory, reducing administrative ambiguity but raising importance of precise cross‑references."],"plain_english_summary":"These regulations specify which officials may access the Children’s Court’s records under section 51A(3)(j) of the Act. They authorise named screening officials (CEOs and officers under the Working with Children and NDIS worker‑screening laws) and senior Education Department staff (including the Deputy Director General and officers assisting them) to obtain records to carry out criminal‑record checks and to consider education options for children charged with harmful behaviour."},"summary":{"complexity_score":1,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"Scope cannot be assessed as the legislative content was inaccessible. The page has been removed or relocated due to system upgrades on the Western Australian legislation website."},"complexity_factors":["No actual legislative content was retrievable — the source URL is a broken/removed webpage","Only metadata and a system error message were present, providing no legal text to analyse","Cannot assess definitional complexity, cross-references, or regulatory burden without content"],"plain_english_summary":"The Children's Court Regulations 2008 (WA) are subordinate rules for the Children's Court of Western Australia, setting out operational and procedural details—like fees, forms and filing/administrative processes—that affect children, families, lawyers and court staff in juvenile criminal and child‑protection matters. The online page for the regulations is currently unavailable, so the full text can’t be reviewed here; check the WA legislation site or contact Parliamentary Counsel for access."}},"importantCases":[],"_links":{"self":"/api/acts/children-s-court-regulations-2008","history":"/api/acts/children-s-court-regulations-2008/history","analysis":"/api/acts/children-s-court-regulations-2008/analysis","conflicts":"/api/acts/children-s-court-regulations-2008/conflicts","importantCases":"/api/acts/children-s-court-regulations-2008/important-cases","documents":"/api/acts/children-s-court-regulations-2008/documents"}}