The ASC is strongly committed to safe, supportive and friendly environments where children and young people are valued and enjoy sport.

We are proud to have adopted the Win Well pledge, where how we win is just as important as when we win. We will prioritise and focus on the physical, mental, emotional, and cultural wellbeing of children, young people and athletes to unlock their full potential and Win Well.

We are committed to providing meaningful acknowledgement, care and support to former AIS athletes who experienced harm in the past. We offered a public apology in May 2021 and have established the ASC Restorative Program. We will use insights from this program to learn from our past and to inform our enterprise safeguarding approach.

The ASC has adopted the Commonwealth Child Safe Framework and is committed to implementing the National Principles for Child Safe Organisations and ensuring that child safety is reflected in everything we do. The ASC takes seriously our responsibility to provide an environment that is caring, nurturing and safe.

We are committed to keeping children and young people safe

• We have zero tolerance to child abuse and neglect.
• Through our Child Safe Policy, we document our clear commitment to keeping children and young people safe from abuse and neglect.
• We publicly communicate our commitment to all stakeholders.

We encourage the involvement of children and young people

• We involve and communicate with children and young people in developing a safe, inclusive and supportive environment.
• We give all children and young people access to information, support and complaints processes.
• We actively listen to children and young people and ensure that they are informed about their rights, including their right to safety and their right to be heard.

We involve families and the community in promoting child safety and wellbeing

• We provide information to families and communities about:
  • our commitment to keeping children and young people safe and communicating their rights;
  • the behaviour we expect of our employees, contractors and of themselves; and
  • our policy about responding to child abuse.
• We seek feedback and have a process for responding to concerns.

We promote equity and respect diversity

• We consider the needs of children and young people; particularly Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, children with a disability, children who identify as LGBTQI+ and children from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.
• We respect the rights of children who identify as LGBTQI+ to be recognised for their gender identity, sexual orientation or intersex status and to feel safe and respected when participating in sport.
• We respect diversity and seek to create culturally safe sporting environments.

We ensure that our people are suitable and supported to work with children and young people

• We require all staff to undergo mandatory screening prior to commencement, including Working with Children Checks.
• We have embedded child safety into our recruitment processes, to minimise the likelihood that we will recruit employees or contractors who are unsuitable to work with children.

We encourage reporting of all complaints and concerns

• We actively encourage reporting of any allegation, disclosure or concern regarding child abuse, neglect or harm.
• We respond to all allegations, disclosures or concerns and act to ensure that processes are fair, transparent and child focused.
• We will meet the requirements of legislated mandatory or industry reporting requirements, including Australian Child Protection Legislation.

We equip our staff, contractors and site users with ongoing education and training

• We have Child Safe Practices that outlines our expectations for behaviour towards children and young people.
• We provide all employees and contractors with information and ongoing education about our commitment to child safety including our Child Safe Policy, Child Safe Practices and how to report a concern.
• We promote awareness of the National Principles for Child Safe Organisations to our staff, contractors and stakeholders.

We ensure that environments are safe

• We will identify and implement improvements to our physical and online environments to minimise opportunities for abuse to occur.
• We actively seek to create environments where children and young people feel safe.

We maintain and improve our policies and practices

• We are committed to maintaining and improving our policies, procedures and practices to keep children and young people safe from abuse or neglect.
• We have an appointed Child Safe Champion who is responsible for promoting child safety and the implementation of the ASC Child Safe Policy.
• We undertake an annual risk assessment to identify and document the risk of harm to children and young people, in line with the Commonwealth Child Safe Framework.
• We seek independent advice and conduct external reviews to support our implementation of the National Principles for Child Safe Organisations.