Second draft of National Catholic Safeguarding Standards released

CPSL CEO, Sheree Limbrick. Photo supplied.

A second draft of the National Catholic Safeguarding Standards has been released prior to final adoption.

After rigorous consultation processes conducted by CPSL, a second draft of the Standards was provided to the November plenary meeting of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference and to Catholic Religious Australia for their consideration, in line with CPSL’s constitution.

CPSL CEO, Sheree Limbrick said it is understood that finalisation could take another month or so but that significant changes are not expected.

“We have decided to release this second draft to enable participating entities to closely consider the detail of the Standards and support material designed specifically to support implementation.

“It is very important that those entities scheduled for audit have time to prepare.

“This current draft of the Standards is the result of 18 months of consultation and testing.

“They have been mapped against state legislation, the recommendations made by the Royal Commission and by national bodies and overseas experience.

“They take the new National Principles for Child Safe Organisations and apply them to the Catholic Church context,” Ms Limbrick said.

The second draft of the National Catholic Safeguarding Standards is available on CPSL’s website

Catholic Professional Standards Ltd is a not-for-profit public company, limited by guarantee. It was established by the leadership of the Catholic Church during the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse to develop national safeguarding standards, to audit the compliance of Church Authorities with those standards and to publicly report the results. CPSL is functionally independent of the Church.

Source: Catholic Professional Standards Ltd