Child Safe Advisor

• Permanent part-time role – days and hours are negotiable (0.5 FTE based on 38 hours per week)
• Ability to transfer or take LSL (Long Service Leave) within Local Government

About Merri-bek City Council

Merri-bek City Council is a progressive council of 195,125 residents: one community, proudly diverse. Our council area sits within the banks of the Merri Creek and the Moonee Ponds Creek, and includes Brunswick, Coburg, Fawkner, Glenroy, Gowanbrae, Hadfield, Oak Park and Pascoe Vale. Our city is vibrant and energetic, known for its active community, cultural diversity, creative industries and the arts. Our long-term vision has ambitious goals for environmental sustainability, social justice, community wellbeing, and creating great places. With the Civic Centre located in Coburg, 8 kilometres north of Melbourne’s CBD, there are excellent public transport options and great food and cafés right at the doorstep.

Merri-bek Council strives to be a contemporary, innovative and collaborative organisation with a deep commitment to engaging and supporting the Merri-bek community. Our organisational vision is to be one team, brave and diverse, making a difference.

We pride ourselves on being an inclusive and welcoming workplace. We offer flexible and hybrid work options and genuinely care about providing our staff work/life balance. With the Civic Centre located in Coburg, 8 kilometres north of Melbourne’s CBD, there are excellent public transport options and great food, cafés, parks and a cinema right at the doorstep. Merri-bek is a great place to live, work and play.

About the role

An exciting opportunity has come up to join the People and Safety team in a key role following the resignation of our Child Safe Advisor. This is a permanent part-time position.

The Child Safe Advisor is responsible for leading and embedding child safe practices across the organisation, ensuring compliance with relevant legislation and standards. The role provides expert advice, delivers training, supports risk management and incident response, works closely with internal and external stakeholders to strengthen a proactive and robust child safety culture.

Responsibilities

• Lead and embed child safe practices across the organisation
• Ensure compliance with relevant legislation and standards
• Provide expert child safety advice to staff and leadership
• Deliver training and capacity building for staff and partners
• Support risk management and incident response processes
• Collaborate with internal and external stakeholders to promote a child‑safe culture

Qualifications and Experience

• Tertiary level qualifications and/or specialist technical experience in policy and service development in the families, youth and children sector or other relevant areas
• Experience in community development, risk management, legislative compliance, and change management
• Experience in completing investigations and preparing reports
• A current Working with Children Check

Benefits

• Extensive opportunities for training and career development
• Salary sacrifice options
• Real sense of work–life balance and flexible work options
• Employer‑supported study assistance schemes
• Wellness programmes

Additional Support for Staff

• Up to 20 weeks primary and up to 5 weeks secondary parental leave
• Purchase leave
• Ceremonial leave
• Gender affirmation leave
• Family violence leave

Contact

For further information about this position please contact Theresa Harb (Safety & Wellbeing Coordinator) on or

Equal Opportunity Statement

Merri-bek City Council is proudly diverse and an equal opportunity employer. We encourage applications from the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community, people with disability, and people from every culture, sexuality and gender identity, age and ethnic background. Merri-bek City Council is a Child Safe organisation.

Applications Close

Applications close: 11:30pm, Wednesday 15 July 2026 (subject to earlier closure if high volume of applications).