The federal government has allocated $37 million to initiate childcare reforms designed to prevent offenders from evading detection due to discrepancies in police checks across various states.

This initiative, dubbed the “banned in one, banned in all” strategy, will implement nationwide, continuous assessments of Working with Children Check (WWCC) holders. The rollout is expected to begin by the end of the year.

Originally suggested by the child sexual abuse royal commission in 2015, this reform has gained renewed urgency after several high-profile incidents of alleged abuse at childcare facilities nationwide.

Attorney-General Michelle Rowland is set to unveil the five-year funding plan for the National Continuous Checking Capability, which aims to deliver “near real-time monitoring of changes to criminal history information.”

“Ensuring the safety of children is paramount for the Albanese government,” Rowland stated. “This is why we are advancing a coordinated and ambitious reform agenda to establish meaningful consistency across jurisdictions regarding when an individual is deemed suitable to hold a WWCC and when they should be excluded.”

“This addresses existing gaps and inconsistencies and will improve protections for children and young people.”

Rowland had previously knocked back the idea of one national database, instead leaving the states and territories to implement the collective change individually.

The government said five states and territories already recognised negative WWCC decisions from interstate and the other three were “on track” to introduce legislation this year.

“Currently, persons seeking to hold an entitlement, or position of trust, are subject to a point-in-time check of their criminal history through a Nationally Coordinated Criminal History Check, often referred to as a police check, which is conducted through the ACIC’s National Police Checking Service (NPCS),” ACIC executive director of business and partnerships Jeremy Johnson said, in March.

“The NCCC seeks to provide an additional layer to the process by providing an ongoing, continuous, near real-time monitoring of national changes to an entitlement holder’s criminal history information. 

“This means that if an entitlement holder is charged with a relevant offence in any state or territory, this information will be passed to the relevant screening unit for their assessment.”