Teenagers working alongside adults in Australia need to be better protected from sex offenders, a report says.
Ahead of the busy Black Friday and Christmas sales, the report into retailers has outlined a plan it hopes will ensure teens are not exposed to workplace predators across the country.
The ''Safety Not Guaranteed' report by the Shop Distributive and Allied Employees Association and non-for-profit McKell Institute has recommended law changes to better protect children.
The report found more than 500,000 children aged 17 and under were working across Australia mostly in retail but the majority were not adequately protected by law.
It said only South Australia provided proper safeguards, after the state government passed laws in March banning child sex offenders from working with kids.
The report has recommended other states and territories follow suit.
It has called for legislation to be amended to ban accused and convicted sex offenders from working alongside children.
The report also called for bail conditions to be tightened for convicted or accused sex offenders and reforms made to offender registries.
The report said requirements for adults working alongside children were not strict in Australia.
"Most Australians would be surprised to learn that there are few requirements for adults working alongside children to get 'working with children' checks," it said.
"This has led to incidences where adults charged, or even convicted, with child sex offences are working alongside children in retail, fast food and hospitality settings."
The report recommended that adults across the nation working alongside children be required to access the checks, in which they are screened for suitability.
All states and territories should also ensure eligibility for "working with children" checks be expanded so that businesses voluntarily seeking them do so without a cost increase to workers.
"In some states, employers proactively seeking to purchase working with children checks for their adult employees are unable to do so as ... checks are often limited to those working in a specific set of occupations," the report said.
Industry stakeholders have backed the report, with the Australian Retailers Association and National Retail Association endorsing the recommendations.
"Government intervention is essential in this space to ensure that protections for workers are implemented in a way that is effective and sustainable for employers," said National Retail Association's Lindsay Carroll.
