Division 3 of Part IV of the Lukautim Pikinini Act 2015 creates the officials who do the front-line work.
Section 35 — gazettal
(1) The National Child and Family Services Council shall recommend names, on the advice of the Director, of persons for approval by the Minister as Child Protection Officers.
(2) Any serving welfare officers and persons performing similar functions may be appointed as Child Protection Officers.
(3) A Child Protection Officer may be eligible for annual risk and hardship allowances.
(4) An appointment continues until revoked or otherwise determined by the Council in consultation with the Director.
A three-step appointment. The Director advises, the Council recommends, the Minister approves. No single office controls who holds the power.
Continuity. Subsection (2) allowed existing welfare officers to become Child Protection Officers on commencement — consistent with section 124, which preserved the positions of Welfare Officers under the repealed Acts.
Risk and hardship allowances. Subsection (3) is a frank recognition of what the work involves. An officer may be removing a child from a violent household, in a remote place, without police support.
Section 36 — the powers
(1) The powers of the Child Protection Officer are to prevent and respond to violence, abuse, neglect, exploitation and discrimination against all children.
(2) Those powers include the power to prevent violence under the Family Protection Act 2013.
The Family Protection Act 2013 is not available on PacLII at the time of writing.
| Function | Provision |
|---|---|
| Accompany any search concerning a child carried out by police or another person | s 43(2) |
| As an “officer” under Division 3, take charge of a child in immediate danger without a court order, entering premises by reasonable force if necessary | ss 45–46 |
| Take charge of a lost or runaway child | s 49 |
| Sit on a Provincial Council (Provincial Child Protection Officer) and a District Committee (District Child Protection Officer) | ss 24(3)(f), 27(2)(b) |
| Carry out investigations for the Office | s 42 |
The Division 3 emergency powers belong to an “officer”, defined in section 45 as a police officer or a Child Protection Officer authorised by the National Child and Family Services Council to exercise the powers under this Division.
So gazettal under section 35 is not by itself enough for the section 46 power to enter premises and take charge of a child. A separate Council authorisation is required.
Section 36(3) — acting without appointment
A person who exercises and performs the power and functions of a Child Protection Officer, without being appointed under this Division, is guilty of an offence.
Penalty: a fine not exceeding K2,000.00 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months, or both.
A Child Protection Officer can turn up at a house and take a child away. A person falsely claiming that authority could remove a child from a family with no resistance at all.
Section 36(3) makes the impersonation itself an offence, without any need to prove what was done with the child. It is reinforced by section 85, which makes false representation as an employee an offence, and by section 82 on the sale of children.
The practical protection for a family is straightforward: appointments are gazetted, so the officer’s authority can be checked.
Section 37 — child protection volunteers
(1) The Council may, on the advice of the Director, appoint persons to be child protection volunteers to carry out such duties as are prescribed for the purposes of this Act.
(2) The appointment continues until revoked or otherwise determined by the Council in consultation with the Director.
Volunteers carry out prescribed duties — that is, duties set out in regulations made under section 120. They do not hold the general section 36 power, and they are not “officers” for the Division 3 emergency powers unless separately appointed and authorised.
Their value is reach. Papua New Guinea has far more communities than it has gazetted officers, and volunteers extend the system into places the Office cannot staff — consistent with section 4(d), which makes it an objective to utilise, strengthen and develop community structures.
Both officers and volunteers acting in good faith have the benefit of the indemnity in section 117, and it is an offence under section 84 to obstruct a person performing functions under the Act. Where an officer fails to discharge duties, section 79 applies.
Sources
- Lukautim Pikinini Act 2015 — ss 4, 24, 27, 35–37, 42–49, 79, 82, 84, 85, 117, 120, 124
Before relying on anything here, read the current text of the Marriage Act (Chapter 280) and check for later amendments. If a decision matters to you, get advice — start with the Office of the Public Solicitor, or find a firm in the law firms directory.