Reasonable Grounds and Criminal Nature

Air date: 1 June, 2022

Understanding and complying with reporting requirements for sexual assault in residential aged care services.
In 2021, the introduction of a Serious Incident Response Scheme (SIRS) made it mandatory to report all sexual assaults in residential aged care. Guidelines for reporting note that sexual assaults should be reported to the Police where there are ‘reasonable grounds’ or where the incident is of a ‘criminal nature’ – but it is not clear what these terms mean.

The aim of this seminar is to clarify these terms, it will support service providers to understand:

• the implications of these for reporting sexual assault to SIRS
• the legal responsibilities of service providers related to sexual assault
• how, when and why to report sexual assault in residential aged care to the Police.

Chair: Professor Eileen Webb: Professor of Law and Ageing in the School of Law at the University of South Australia

• Dr Catherine Barrett, Director and Founder of Celebrate Ageing Ltd and Ready to Listen
• Detective Chief Inspector Richard Lambert, Officer in Charge Special Crimes Investigation Section, South Australia Police
• Associate Professor Ben Livings, Program Director, Undergraduate Law Programs University of South Australia Justice & Society
• Ann Wunsch, Executive Director Approvals, Compliance and Investigations, Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission
• Doris Gioffre, Operations Supervisor, Aged Rights Advocacy Service (ARAS)
• Catherine Kaehne, Director SIRS/ SIRS Home Care, Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission

This seminar is presented by the University of South Australia in partnership with the Older Persons Advocacy Network (OPAN).