The Act sets out a clear set of key duties, procedural rights and statutory protections.
Duties to prevent and notify. Section 13 imposes a broad responsibility on adults who know, believe or reasonably suspect a child is suffering or likely to suffer abuse or neglect to take steps to prevent it. Section 14 creates a statutory duty on prescribed persons, in the course of official duties, to inform the Secretary or a Community‑Based Intake Service when they have such a belief or knowledge; the required report must include the observations, information and grounds on which the belief is based (s 14(3)). Failure to notify attracts a fine not exceeding 20 penalty units under s 14(2).
Secretary’s duties and powers. The Secretary may assess where there are reasonable grounds to believe a child is at risk (s 18(1)), require written reports from treating or examining persons (s 18(2)), require other persons to provide reports relevant to safety and wellbeing (s 18(3)-(4)), and retain custody short term for up to 120 hours pending assessment (s 21(2)). The Secretary must cause a family group conference to be convened where the Court refers a matter or when required under s 53 (s 30(2)). After a family group conference, the Secretary may approve and implement recommended arrangements or take action under the care and protection order regime (s 37).
Court duties and procedural rights. The Court must consider the child's best interests as paramount and observe Part 1A principles (s 54). The Court may make assessment orders, interim orders and care and protection orders when satisfied statutory thresholds are met (ss 22, 26, 42). The Court must ensure a child is represented by an Australian legal practitioner unless the child has made an informed decision not to be represented, and may make orders to secure representation (s 59). Proceedings are conducted informally and the Court is not bound by rules of evidence; it may inform itself as it considers appropriate and decide on the balance of probabilities (s 63).
Family group conference duties and rights. The Act requires facilitators to consult and convene conferences (s 32), to ensure the child has an advocate unless the child waives the right and is mature enough (s 32(3)), and to produce a written decision or report which the Secretary must consider (s 36(1)-(3), s 37). Family group conference decisions are protected from publication and evidence of what is said at the conference is inadmissible, except that the written record of decisions or facilitator reports is admissible to establish whether a decision was made (s 40(1)-(3)).
Information‑sharing duties and limitations. The Secretary may provide or require information from information‑sharing entities where it relates to the safety, welfare or wellbeing of a "relevant person" (s 53B(1)). Information‑sharing entities must comply within the period specified by the Secretary or notify if they cannot provide the information, failing which a small penalty applies (s 53B(2)). Entities sharing information in good faith are protected from civil or criminal liability (s 53B(4)(a)-(b)). There are express limits and carve outs: the Secretary and CBIS cannot provide information received from an information‑sharing entity under this Act in response to a Right to Information request (s 111A(1)).
Confidentiality protections. Notifiers have statutory confidentiality protections: a person engaged in administration must not disclose a notifier’s identity except for narrow exceptions (consent, official duties, court leave, or law enforcement) and breaches are criminalised (s 16(2)-(5)). Section 103 imposes a general duty to maintain confidentiality of personal information obtained in the course of administering the Act and makes unauthorised disclosures punishable, while setting out defined exceptions for litigation, commissions and employment screening (s 103(1) and (2A)-(2D)).
Penalties and enforcement. The Act contains a range of penalties for non‑compliance and offences, from fines to imprisonment. Examples include failing to protect a child where a duty of care exists (s 91, up to 50 penalty units or 2 years imprisonment), failing to attend to reporting duties (s 14(2), 20 penalty units), failing to disclose notifier identity (s 16(2), up to 40 penalty units or 12 months), publication of family conference material (s 40(1), up to 50 penalty units or 18 months), failure to comply with orders (s 50, up to 40 penalty units or 12 months), and making false statements when required by an order (s 102, up to 50 penalty units or 2 years).
Rights to review and representation. Persons affected by Secretary transfer decisions may seek judicial review; a review of a Secretary decision to transfer a home order must be lodged within a specified period and stays the operation pending determination (ss 77D-77F). Appeals from court transfer orders have short time limits set out in ss 77M and 77R.
Together, these duties and rights create a compliance ecosystem that balances administrative powers, protective court orders and procedural safeguards focused on representation, review and confidentiality.