The Industrial and Reformatory Schools Act 1865 – with the full title “An Act to provide for the establishment of Industrial and Reformatory Schools” (Act no. 8/1865, 29 Vic No.8) set up special schools to educate and care for neglected children and young offenders under the age of 15 years. The Act allowed Indigenous children…
The Orphanages Act 1879 (Act no. 16/1879) was an act to govern orphanages which were charged with the care, teaching and training of children whose circumstances included death of one or both parents, desertion by parents, or neglect. It was assented to on 2 October 1879 and its full title was “An Act to make…
The Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998 (PIPP) deals with how NSW government agencies manage personal information. It applies to state government agencies, statutory or declared authorities, the police service and local councils. The Act also sets out the role of the NSW Privacy Commissioner. It does not apply to health records and does…
The Children and Young Persons (Care and Protection) Act 1998 (157/1998) was ‘An Act to provide for the care and protection of, and the provision of services to, children and young persons’. This is the Act that created the contemporary system of child protection in New South Wales. It was, in 2014, the legislation underpinning…
The Child Protection (Prohibited Employment) Act 1998 was ‘An Act to prohibit the employment in child-related employment of person found guilty of committing certain serious sex offences; and for related purposes’. It was passed in the wake of the Wood Royal Commission into the New South Wales Police Service. It was repealed and replaced in…
The Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 (GIPAA) replaces the Freedom of Information Act 1989. GIPAA creates new rights to information that are designed to meet community expectations of more open and transparent government. The Act encourages the routine and proactive release of government information. The GIPAA establishes four ways for government information to be…
The Children (Detention Centres) Act 1987 (57/1987) was ‘An Act with respect to the detention of children and other young persons who are on remand or who have been found guilty of criminal offences’. This Act updated the law around how and when young people could be detained, remanded, and imprisoned.’ This Act came as…
The Children’s Court Act 1987 (53/1987) replaced existing legislation relating to Children’s Courts. This Act (which had the long title ‘An Act to establish a Children’s Court of New South Wales’) gave the NSW Children’s Court its own piece of legislation for the first time. It separated the Children’s Court further from the rest of…
The Children (Criminal Proceedings Act 1987 (55/1987) was ‘An Act with respect to the conduct of criminal proceedings against children and other young persons’. It updated the proceedings of the criminal justice system for children and young people. It required that courts try to make sure children brought before them understood the proceedings, the allegations,…
The Miscellaneous Acts (Community Welfare) Repeal and Amendment Act 1987 was an Act used to repeal a number of pieces of child welfare legislation, clearing the way for the passage of the Community Welfare Act 1987. It was repealed in 2007.