Terry KS New research by credential verification platform Oho warns that gaps in Australia’s child safeguarding systems expose the nation to an estimated $2.4 billion in annual economic costs. The study argues that without real-time, employer-linked verification systems, well-intentioned reforms may fail at the point of implementation.
AUSTRALIA, 8 JANUARY 2026 – Australia’s ongoing child safeguarding reforms face a significant risk of falling short, with new research revealing an estimated $2.4 billion in annual economic cost exposure linked to safeguarding failures. The findings were released by Oho, Australia’s only continuous credential verification platform, highlighting systemic gaps that continue to leave children and vulnerable people exposed.
While recent government reforms mark important progress, Oho cautioned that the pace and scope of implementation remain insufficient. Current efforts are largely focused on data sharing between government agencies, leaving a critical gap in government-to-employer data sharing where day-to-day safeguarding risks occur. With reforms expected to take up to three years to fully roll out, employers are left without the systems needed to comply effectively in the interim.
Analysis of 224,000 independent worker records revealed that between one in 434 and one in 3,000 workers currently hold a revoked or suspended clearance, despite safeguards intended to prevent them from working with children and vulnerable groups. At the same time, approximately 27 per cent of Australia’s care and education workforce—around 1.7 million workers—cannot be continuously verified due to fragmented and outdated government registers.
Employers are required to manage more than 23 separate registers, a process that remains heavily manual, error-prone and increasingly unmanageable for a workforce characterised by rapid growth and high turnover. According to Oho, these structural weaknesses contribute to an annual economic exposure of $2.4 billion, encompassing legal costs, insurance claims, investigations, productivity losses and workforce attrition.
The findings were detailed in a white paper titled Safeguarding Australia: Strengthening Right-to-Work Systems to Protect Children & Vulnerable People. Its release coincides with the federal government’s staged rollout of major reforms, including the Early Childhood Education and Care (Strengthening Regulation of Early Education) Act 2025 and initiatives led by the Attorney-General’s Department to mutually recognise Working with Children Check outcomes across jurisdictions.
The paper argues that many safeguarding failures could be addressed through secure, connected data sharing between government registers and employers, similar to systems used by the Australian Tax Office to modernise payroll reporting. Oho estimates such an approach would cost approximately $70 million per year, a fraction of the current economic exposure.
The research also comes amid broader post-Royal Commission reforms, including Victoria’s Rapid Child Safety Review, the Aged Care Act 2024 and Queensland’s Child Safe Organisations Act. Since August 2025, 88 new national workforce safety standards have been endorsed, signalling strong regulatory momentum.
However, Oho warned that without modern infrastructure enabling real-time verification and visibility into worker suitability, reforms risk failing during implementation. To address this, the company has proposed a national safeguarding systems framework centred on mutual recognition, continuous verification, secure technology integration, transition support for providers and a stronger culture of prevention across organisations.
Oho is calling on state and federal governments to collaborate closely with industry and technology providers to ensure reforms are delivered coherently and translate into meaningful protection for Australia’s most vulnerable communities.