December 2025 SMR News

Dear reader,

Welcome to the December Newsletter!

Key Points:

It's Christmas
Thank you!
Office closure for holiday period
Age restricted social media platforms
Training requirements for Parish Councillors and Wardens
Safe Ministry parish consultations
Safe Ministry Training requirements
Face to face training 2026

Christmas = Love

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life". John 3:16

Thankyou

To all our hard-working Safe Ministry Representatives for all that you do in our Parishes to keep children safe.

It was lovely to meet many of you this year at a Zoom workshop or Parish consultation.

Office closure for holiday period

Sydney Anglican Services, including the Safe Ministry Office will be closed from Monday 22 December and reopen Monday 5 January. If you think a child or young person is at risk of harm from abuse or neglect, contact the Child Protection Helpline on 132 111 (TTY 1800 212 936), 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Age-restricted social media platforms

With the changes coming on 10 December 2025, it is a timely reminder to review your church's use of social media platforms to ensure you comply with the terms of use, age restrictions, privacy options and controls for each site.

Further information about these changes is located on the eSafety Commissioner's website here

Note: many of the social media platforms already have minimum age restrictions (13+), so check before using e.g. WhatsApp

Reporting Harm

There are no changes to reporting harm, even if identified while using an age-restricted platform. The eSafety Commissioner has developed a flowchart outlining the steps for reporting different types of online abuse and illegal content available here.

Safe Ministry training requirements for parish staff and officers

Earlier this year information was provided about the changes to the Safe Ministry to Children Ordinance 2020 which relate to expanding the coverage of the Safe Ministry Training requirements coming into effect on 31.12.2025.

A recently published article on the Registry page of the Sydney Anglicans website provides information about the requirement for wardens, parish counsellors, church workers, and other parish officers to have completed Safe Ministry training.

The article can be found here.

Any questions about these changes can be emailed to registryforms@sydney.anglican.asn.au

Safe Ministry Consultations

Would you like to improve safe ministry practices in your church in 2026?

Then participate in a Safe Ministry Parish Consultation.

A Safe Ministry Parish consultation provides an opportunity to obtain feedback about your church’s safe ministry practices and receive recommendations for making improvements as part of your church’s continuous improvement process.

Since 2022 under the NSW Child Safe Scheme churches are required to implement the 10 Child Safe Standards.
A Parish consultation can assist your church to:
- Highlight where your church is already meeting the Standards
- Bring to light gaps in implementation and develop a plan for continuous improvement
Additionally the consultation will review compliance with the Safe Ministry to Children Ordinance 2020.

What’s involved?
+ Completing an online Child Safe Standards Self-Assessment tool
+ Meeting with the Parish Consultant and relevant staff in your church
+ Receive a Report which includes recommendations for improving Safe Ministry practices.

If you are interested and/or want to find out more information email the Parish Consultant ros@safeministry.org.au

Safe Ministry Training Requirements

A few training reminders:

# If an individual's Safe Ministry Training has expired, they MUST complete the Essentials course (not Refresher). See What happens when my Safe Ministry training expires

# When a Junior Leader turns 18 years, they MUST complete the Essentials course (not Refresher), even if they have previously completed the Junior Leader course. More information is available here.

For more details visit the Training website https://safeministry.training

Face to face Safe Ministry training (English) - 2026 Dates

Course enrolments open - 4 weeks prior to the event

Course enrolments close - 48hrs prior to the event

Step by step instructions to enrol in Face-to-Face Training are available here.

Please note: You are not able to enrol or pay at the event.

Listed below are the dates for face-to-face training events to be held in 2026 (locations will be uploaded shortly so please check the website periodically for updates)