administration period means the period during which an administrator is appointed to a social service provider under Division 8 of Part 7;
adverse publicity order has the meaning given by section 163;
S. 3(1) def. of Associate Regulator inserted by No. 58/2025 s. 9.
Associate Regulator means an Associate Social Services Regulator appointed under section 18A;
authorised officer means a person appointed under section 103;
business day means a day other than a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday;
care leaver means a person who has been, but is no longer, in out of home care;
Chief Commissioner of Police means the Chief Commissioner of Police appointed under section 17 of the Victoria Police Act 2013;
child means a person who is under the age of 18 years;
Child Safe Standards has the same meaning as in the Child Wellbeing and Safety Act 2005;
civil penalty order means an order made under section 298;
civil penalty provision means a provision set out in the table in section 297;
Commission for Children and Young People means the Commission for Children and Young People established by section 6 of the Commission for Children and Young People Act 2012;
compliance code means a compliance code approved under section 308;
conditions of registration means a condition imposed on a registration under Division 1 of Part 3;
conduct that may lead to exclusion has the meaning given in section 52;
employing or engaging, in relation to a WCES worker or carer, includes (but is not limited to) approving a person to act as a foster carer;
enforceable undertaking has the meaning given by section 152;
S. 3(1) def. of amended by No. 9/2023 s. 238.
exclusion decision
exclusion decision means—
(a) a determination by the Panel under section 79(1)(a) that a person is excluded from providing WCES services or a class of WCES services; or
(b) the issue of an interim exclusion under section 70 to a WCES worker or carer; or
(c) the giving of a WWC exclusion or an interim WWC exclusion under the Worker Screening Act 2020; or
(d) a prescribed decision;
harm includes harm of a physical, sexual, emotional, psychological, financial or cultural nature;
identity card means an identity card issued to an authorised officer or an independent investigator under section 105;
improvement notice has the meaning given by section 137;
independent investigator means an independent body or person engaged by the Regulator under section 59;
integrated sector regulator has the same meaning as in the Child Wellbeing and Safety Act 2005;
interim WWC exclusion has the same meaning as in the Worker Screening Act 2020;
S. 3(1) def. of law enforcement agency amended by No. 31/2024 s. 113(Sch. 1 item 33.1).
law enforcement agency means—
(a) Victoria Police; or
(b) the Commissioner employed under section 8A of the Corrections Act 1986; or
(c) the Director, Fines Victoria employed under section 4 of the Fines Reform Act 2014; or
(d) the Business Licensing Authority established under Part 2 of the Business Licensing Authority Act 1998; or
(e) a commission established by a law of Victoria with the function of investigating matters relating to criminal activity generally or of a specified class or classes; or
(f) the Chief Examiner and Examiners appointed under Part 3 of the Major Crime (Investigative Powers) Act 2004; or
(g) the IBAC within the meaning of the Independent Broad-based Anti‑corruption Commission Act 2011; or
(h) the sheriff within the meaning of the Sheriff Act 2009; or
(i) Integrity Oversight Victoria within the meaning of the Integrity Oversight Victoria Act 2011; or
(j) the Adult Parole Board established by section 61 of the Corrections Act 1986; or
(k) the Post Sentence Authority continued in existence by section 290 of the Serious Offenders Act 2018; or
(l) the Youth Parole Board within the meaning of the Children, Youth and Families Act 2005; or
(m) an agency responsible for the performance of functions or activities directed to—
(i) the prevention, detection, investigation, prosecution or punishment of criminal offences or breaches of a law imposing a penalty or sanction for a breach; or
(ii) the management of property seized or restrained under laws relating to the confiscation of the proceeds of crime or the enforcement of such laws, or of orders made under such laws; or
(n) an agency responsible for the execution or implementation of an order or decision made by a court or tribunal; or
(o) an agency that provides correctional services, including a contractor within the meaning of the Corrections Act 1986, or a subcontractor of that contractor, but only in relation to a function or duty or the exercise of a power conferred on it by or under that Act; or
(p) an agency responsible for the protection of the public revenue under a law administered by it;
occupier, in relation to premises, means a person who—
(a) is or appears to be 16 years of age or over; and
(b) is or appears to be in control of the premises;
out of home care means care of a child by a person other than a parent of the child;
Panel means a Panel convened under section 68;
parent, in relation to a child, includes—
(a) the father and mother of the child; and
(b) the spouse of the father or mother of the child; and
(c) the domestic partner of the father or mother of the child; and
(d) any person who has parental responsibility for the child, other than the Secretary; and
(e) a person whose name is entered as the father of the child in the register of births in the Register maintained by the Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages under Part 7 of the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act 1996; and
(f) a person who acknowledges that he is the father of the child by an instrument of the kind described in section 8(2) of the Status of Children Act 1974; and
(g) a person in respect of whom a court has made a declaration or a finding or order that the person is the father of the child;
personal support means the provision of one or more of the following—
(a) assistance with personal hygiene, toileting or dressing;
(b) assistance to achieve and maintain mobility;
(c) support to seek out and maintain contact with health professionals, social networks, family, friends and the community;
(d) emotional wellbeing support;
(e) assistance with or supervision in administering medication;
(f) assistance with eating and maintaining adequate nutrition;
prohibition notice has the meaning given by section 142;
protected information has the meaning given in section 188;
public authority means any body (including any trust) established by or under an Act for a public purpose, other than a Council within the meaning of the Local Government Act 2020;
public warning notice has the meaning given by section 160;
registered social service provider means a social service provider registered under Division 1 of Part 3;
Register means the Register kept under section 36;
Regulator means the Social Services Regulator established under section 4;
relevant agency has the meaning given in section 189;
relevant entity has the same meaning as in the Child Wellbeing and Safety Act 2005;
reportable conduct scheme has the same meaning as in the Child Wellbeing and Safety Act 2005;
resident (except in Part 9) means—
(a) a resident within the meaning of the Disability Act 2006; and
(b) a resident of a supported residential service within the meaning set out in section 214, other than a designated public hospital;
Secretary means the Secretary to the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing;
sector regulator has the same meaning as in the Child Wellbeing and Safety Act 2005;
serious harm means harm, whether a single instance of harm or repeated or persistent instances of harm, that results in one or more of the following—
(a) death;
(b) loss of a foetus;
(c) permanent or long-term serious impairment;
(d) permanent or long-term serious disfigurement;
(e) permanent or long-term severe psychological injury or developmental delay;
service requirements means service requirements prescribed for the purposes of section 45;
service user means—
(a) a child (including an unborn child) who is at risk of harm or is in need of protection; or
(b) a care leaver; or
(c) a person with a disability within the meaning of section 3(1) of the Disability Act 2006; or
(d) a resident of a supported residential service within the meaning of section 214; or
(e) a person who is at risk of, or who has experienced, family violence (within the meaning of section 5 of the Family Violence Protection Act 2008), sexual assault or any other sexual offence; or
(f) a person who has committed family violence (within the meaning of section 5 of the Family Violence Protection Act 2008), sexual assault or any other sexual offence; or
(g) a person who is experiencing or is at risk of homelessness, including a homeless person within the meaning of section 3(1) of the Children, Youth and Families Act 2005; or
(h) a prescribed person or class of persons who are subject to social disadvantage; or
(i) a family member or other person who has provided support to, or received support or social services with, any person referred to in paragraphs (a) to (h);
social service means a social service or activity that is prescribed to be a social service for the purposes of this Act;
Social Services Standards means the Social Services Standards set out in Subdivision 1 of Division 1 of Part 4;
spouse of a person means the person to whom the person is married;
suspension of intake notice has the meaning given by section 166;
Victoria Police has the same meaning as in the Victoria Police Act 2013;
WCES database means the database established under section 83;
WCES service means a service to which the worker and carer exclusion scheme is prescribed to apply;
WCES service provider means a body that is prescribed to be a WCES service provider for the purposes of this Act;
WCES service user means a person who—
(a) is receiving or has received WCES services from a WCES service provider; or
(b) is seeking or has sought WCES services from a WCES service provider, whether or not the person received those WCES services;
WCES worker or carer means a person employed or engaged to provide a WCES service and includes, but is not limited to, a person approved by a WCES service provider to act as a foster carer;
worker and carer exclusion scheme means the scheme set out in Part 5;
WWC clearance has the same meaning as in the Worker Screening Act 2020;
WWC exclusion has the same meaning as in the Worker Screening Act 2020.
(2) In this Act, domestic partner of a person means—
(a) a person who is in a registered relationship with the person; or
(b) an adult person to whom the person is not married but with whom the person is in a relationship as a couple where one or each of them provides personal or financial commitment and support of a domestic nature for the material benefit of the other, irrespective of their genders and whether or not they are living under the same roof, but does not include a person who provides domestic support and personal care to the person—
(i) for fee or reward; or
(ii) on behalf of another person or an organisation (including a government or government agency, a body corporate or a charitable or benevolent organisation).
(3) For the purposes of the definition of domestic partner in subsection (2)—
(a) registered relationship has the same meaning as it has in the Relationships Act 2008; and
(b) in determining whether persons who are not in a registered relationship are domestic partners of each other, all the circumstances of their relationship are to be taken into account, including any one or more of the matters referred to in section 35(2) of the Relationships Act 2008 as may be relevant in a particular case; and
(c) a person is not a domestic partner of another person only because they are co-tenants.
Part 2—Social Services Regulator
Division 1—Establishment
4 Establishment of Social Services Regulator
(1) The Social Services Regulator is established.
(2) The Social Services Regulator is to be appointed by the Governor in Council on the recommendation of the Minister.