Youth Justice Act 2024

Subject to subsection (2), in a civil or criminal proceeding, a Victorian court or a Victorian tribunal must not use a party's spent childhood conviction, or information about the conduct to which a party's spent childhood conviction relates, for the purposes of assessing the party's character in a way that is adverse to the party.

Subsection (1) does not apply to the use of a spent childhood conviction or related information for any of the following purposes—

performing a function or duty imposed by, or exercising a power conferred under, the Children, Youth and Families Act 2005 in relation to the protection or therapeutic treatment of a child, including any of the following—

conducting a proceeding under Chapter 4 of that Act;

making an order under Chapter 4 of that Act;

referring a matter for investigation under Division 2 of Part 5.2 of that Act;

performing a function or duty imposed by, or exercising a power conferred under, the Family Violence Protection Act 2008;

performing a function or duty imposed by, or exercising a power conferred under, the Child Wellbeing and Safety Act 2005;

a prescribed purpose.