Our commitment
Children and young people are the reason this program exists. We are building TechFest Australia to be a child safe organisation from the start, rather than adding it later. We have zero tolerance for child abuse and for behaviour that puts a young person at risk.
We align our practices with the National Principles for Child Safe Organisations developed by the Australian Human Rights Commission and endorsed by governments across Australia, and with the Child Safe Standards that apply where we run activities.
This is a draft written before the program runs. The policies, registers and training described here are being put in place, and the organiser will publish a signed version, with a named child safety contact, before any activity with students begins. [PLACEHOLDER: named child safety officer]
What that means in practice
- Child safety sits with the people who lead the program, not in a document nobody reads.
- Students are told what to expect, and they can speak up about anything that worries them.
- Families, teachers and communities are involved and informed.
- Every student is welcome, including regional and remote students, First Nations students, students with disability and students from every background.
- Adults who work with students are screened, briefed and supported.
- Concerns are taken seriously, acted on and reported to the right authorities.
- Physical and online environments are set up to reduce risk.
- We review how we are going and write down what we do.
The standards we work to
Nationally, the 10 National Principles for Child Safe Organisations set a consistent approach to embedding child safe cultures. States and territories put them into effect in their own way, and some have enforceable standards with a regulator behind them.
The festival is planned to run in Victoria, where the 11 Child Safe Standards apply to organisations that provide services or facilities for children. See the Commission for Children and Young People. Reportable conduct schemes also operate in the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Queensland, Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia, and we will report under the scheme that applies where an activity takes place.
[PLACEHOLDER: the organiser’s legal adviser to confirm which standards bind the entity in each state where a hub event runs]
Working with Children Checks
Every school team enters with a teacher mentor from their school. When they register, the mentor confirms they hold a current Working with Children Check or their state or territory’s equivalent, for example a Blue Card in Queensland or a Working with Vulnerable People registration in the Australian Capital Territory.
Before a volunteer mentor, judge or organiser is matched with a team, we check that they hold the check required where the activity takes place, and we record its number and expiry in a register. No adult works with students until that check is verified.
Checks are issued separately in each state and territory, and a check from one place is not automatically valid in another. National reform of these checks is under way through the National Office for Child Safety, and we will update our requirements as it lands.
Rules for adults
The full rules are in the code of conduct. The ones that matter most for child safety are these, and they are not negotiable:
- No unsupervised one-to-one contact with a student, online or in person.
- No private messaging, personal phone numbers, personal social media contact or private email with a student.
- No lifts, gifts, money or favours.
- No photographing or filming a student outside the program, and no publishing images of a student without a parent or guardian’s consent.
- No meeting a student outside program activities.
Students at in-person events are supervised by their teacher mentor.
What students can expect
- To be told, in plain words, what happens at each stage and who will be in the room.
- To be treated with respect by mentors, judges and other teams.
- To say no to a photo without it affecting their entry or their score.
- To raise a concern, to be listened to, and to be told what happened next.
- To take part whatever their background, culture, gender, ability or postcode.
Families and schools
A parent or guardian must consent for every participant under 18 before they take part in any stage. For a school team, the teacher mentor collects that consent and confirms it to us at registration. Consent to photos and video is asked for separately and is optional.
Parents, guardians and schools can contact us at any time to ask what we hold about a student, to correct it, or to withdraw them from the program. Email privacy@techfestaustralia.com.au. The privacy policy explains what we collect and why. We do not ask students for a date of birth, an email address or a home address.
Online safety
- Workshops, mentoring and check-ins run in group or supervised channels, never in private messages.
- A teacher mentor is present for sessions with school teams.
- Sessions with students are not recorded unless the organisers have said so and consent has been given.
- Join links are for registered participants only.
- We keep the personal information we hold about students to the minimum needed to run the competition.
Photos and video
Photo and video consent is optional and separate from entry. Saying no has no effect on an entry or on judging. For students, the consent comes from a parent or guardian through the mentor. You can withdraw it at any time by emailing privacy@techfestaustralia.com.au, and we will stop using the material in anything we publish from that point.
Photographs on this website are stock images used for illustration. They are not photographs of TechFest participants.
Raising a concern
If something about the program worries you, tell us. Students, parents, guardians, teachers, mentors, judges and volunteers can all raise a concern, and you can ask to stay anonymous. You will not be penalised for raising a concern in good faith.
If a child is in immediate danger, call 000. To report a concern about a child’s safety to us, email hello@techfestaustralia.com.au with “Child safety” in the subject line. We will respond promptly, act on what you tell us, and report to police or the child protection authority in the relevant state or territory where we need to. Reporting to us does not replace reporting to police or a child protection authority, and it does not affect any mandatory reporting duty a teacher already has.
How we check ourselves
- We keep a register of which adult holds which check, in which state or territory, with expiry dates.
- We brief mentors, judges and volunteers on this statement and the code of conduct before they start.
- We record concerns, what we did about them and how long it took.
- We review this statement at least once a season, and after any incident.
- [PLACEHOLDER: review date and the person accountable for it]
This draft still needs a legal review. Entity name, ABN, postal address and the entry fee are placeholders until the organiser confirms them. TechFest Australia is an independent program. It is not run by, funded by or affiliated with any government.
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