Australia news live: attorneys general meet to reform working with children checks; leaders gather for Garma festival

Attorneys-general are meeting in Darwin on Friday, to work on nationalising the working with children check – sparked by serious allegations of safety breaches and child abuse in the childcare sector.

But a fully nationalised system will only be in place under current timelines from mid-۲۰۲۸ – two years from now.

The Coalition in recent days has put pressure on the government’s timeline and accused it of delaying the national system.

The federal attorney-general, Michelle Rowland, says today the AGs will seek agreement on a baseline of criminal offences which will automatically bar a person from being granted or hold a working with children check (WWCC), and discuss minimum standards for WWCC risk assessment processes.

Rowland says:

All governments have made significant progress towards delivering a national approach to Working with Children Checks … I am confident my state and territory colleagues will take the next big step today and agree on nationally consistent minimum standards and information sharing.

Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the top overnight stories and then it will be Nick Visser with the main action.

State, territory and federal attorneys general are meeting today to discuss reform on working with children checks. The meeting has been sparked by serious allegations of safety breaches and child abuse in the childcare sector.

A farewell will be held for Layla Jeffery, ۱۳, in Donald today. Layla went missing in July and a ۱۶-year-old boy has been charged over her alleged murder.

And a legal battle involving Indigenous land rights is set to return to court after native title holders rejected a court-ordered $۱۵۰m compensation payout.

Thanks for joining us.