The provision of a safe environment and the well being of your club members is integral to the future of sport and recreation.

For detailed information about member protection see "Guide to Member Protection" below.

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What is member protection?

Member protection is all about practices and procedures which protect a club’s members. 

Member protection is a term used by the Australian sport and recreation industry to describe the practices and procedures that protect an organisation’s members — both individual members such as players, coaches and officials, and the member organisations such as clubs, state associations, other affiliated associations and the national body. It involves:

• protecting members from harassment, abuse, discrimination and other forms of inappropriate behaviour
• adopting appropriate measures to ensure the right people are involved in an organisation, particularly in relation to those involved with juniors
• providing education
• promoting and modeling positive behaviour

A member can be anyone involved in your club including:

• players;
• coaches;
• volunteers;
• employees;
• officials.

Having a clear definition of who is a 'member' in your club’s constitution or rules is essential.

What is harassment?

The definition of harassment adopted by the Australian Sports Commission (ASC) states:

'Harassment consists of offensive, abusive, belittling or threatening behaviour directed at a person or people (including the person or persons’ level of empowerment relative to the harasser). The behaviour must be unwelcome and the sort of behaviour a reasonable person would recognise as unwelcome and likely to cause the person to feel offended, humiliated or intimidated.'

Legislation

Legislation in relation to harassment includes: 

• Sex Discrimination Act 1984
• Racial Discrimination Act 1975
• Disability Discrimination Act 1992
• Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission Act 1986
• WA Equal Opportunity Act 1984

Types of harassment

Harassment can be broken down into four main categories:

• racial harassment
• sexual harassment;
• abusive behaviour;
• discrimination.

Sexual harassment

Sexual harassment is any unwanted or unwelcome behaviour of a sexual nature. It causes the person to feel offended, humiliated or intimidated. 

Examples of sexual harassment can include:

• jokes or comments directed at a person’s body, looks or sexual orientation;
• inappropriate touching or deliberately brushing up a against a person;
• behaviour that creates a hostile environment by constant inappropriate references to sexual matters or the display of sexually explicit material;
• promises or threats in return for sexual behaviours.

Abusive behaviou/bullying

Abuse can take place in the following forms: 

• physical abuse (e.g. assault);
• emotional abuse (eg blackmail, repeated requests or demands);
• neglect (i.e. failure to provide basic physical and emotional necessities of life);
• abuse of power which the harasser holds over the harassed.

Examples of relationships that involve a power disparity include that of a coach-player or manager-player. People in such positions of power need to be particularly wary not to exploit that power.

Discrimination

Discrimination is treating or proposing to treat a person less favourably than another in an area of public life specified by the act on the basis of an attribute or personal characteristic they have, in the same or similar circumstances.

The WA Equal Opportunity Act and a number of Federal Acts include the following in their grounds for discrimination: 

• age;
• disability/impairment;
• marital status;
• parental/carer/family status;
• physical features;
• political belief/conviction or lack of conviction;
• pregnancy;
• race or ethnicity;
• religious belief/conviction or lack of conviction;
• sex or gender;
• sexual orientation;
• transgender orientation/gender history.

There are some exceptions to discrimination which generally include:

• Discrimination on the basis of a person’s gender is permitted if the strength, stamina and physique of the competitor is relevant. However this exception cannot be used to discriminate against the selection or entry in competitions of coaches, umpires, or administrators.
• Discrimination because of a person’s pregnancy, disability or physical features is permitted if it is necessary to protect the health and safety or property of any person or of the public generally.

Discrimination also includes victimisation. This is where a person is subject to unfair treatment because that person has or intends to pursue their legal rights under anti-harassment legislation.

Harassment involving children

It is important to note that there are differences in dealing with harassment in regards to children and adults. The following points need to be considered when children are involved:

Child harassment is any behaviour deemed to be inappropriate, it does not matter whether the behaviour is welcome or unwelcome. 

Unlike in the case of adult harassment, where the complainant chooses how they would like the complaint to be handled, there is specific action which needs to be taken when an issue of child harassment is raised.

There is specific legislation relating to child harassment which needs to be adhered to.

Why have a member protection policy?

All clubs, regardless of their size need to have a member protection policy to address undesirable behaviours such as abuse, discrimination and harassment. A member protection policy should be considered an important risk management tool as with any other policy the club has adopted.Clubs may choose to adopt their state sporting association policy.

Having implementing a member protection policy will provide your club with: 

• An effective deterrent to harassment and abuse in the club environment by increasing the awareness of the issue, sending a strong message to potential harassers and assuring those who experience harassment that their complaints will be taken seriously;
• A process that will ensure complaints can be dealt with quickly, responsibly and effectively;
• Good risk management procedures and best legal defence, possibly helping reduce the vicarious liability should a complaint be raised;
• A healthy and safe club environment with a good reputation for looking after their members.

All clubs should ensure they either adopt their state bodies policy or have their own. It is also important to highlight this policy to members. You can use the two page policy template to do this.

Member protection policy for medium–large clubs

Member protection policy for clubs.

Member protection procedures

Along with adopting a member protection policy, it is also important to have in place an outline of member protection procedures should a grievance or issue arise within your club. 

When developing or adopting your member protection procedures you are advised to consult with your State sport association as they may have procedures specific to your sport. If your association does not have procedure guidelines for you to use, the Australian Sports Commission have developed a sample grievance procedure (in Resources) that you could adapt to suit your club.

Creating child safe environments

Various strategies and practices contribute to an environment that is safe for and welcoming to children

Organisations should take a comprehensive approach to child protection and creating child safe environments as shown below. Responsible organisations should ensure that they have employees or volunteers undergo criminal record screening and background checking and also have in place a range of other organisational risk management strategies that protect children.

 

It is important to note that criminal record checking and background checking are only part of an overall strategy that responsible organisations can employ to ensure children are kept safe. Organisations need to implement a range of other risk management strategies such as those discussed below to ensure that they are creating child safe environments, including:

• Policies (including complaints procedures).
• Child safe guidelines for staff and volunteers.
• Appropriate recruitment, selection and support of new employees/volunteers.
• Reference checks.
• Credential checks.
• Working with Children (WWC) checks.
• National Police Check for Volunteers (NPCV).

For a detailed overview of how to create child-safe environments download the Safe Club 4 Kids manual below.

 

Keeping children safe from abuse is the responsibility of individuals, families, communities and the society as a whole.

The WA Government also requires a Working with Children Check, a criminal check for certain people who work with children under the age of 18. It is administered by the Working with Children Screening Unit (WWCSU), Department for Child Protection.

With education and understanding of our role in the community, we can make our sport and recreation organisations safer places for our children and young people.