History

It was minuted at Yearly Meeting 2005 that the Sexual Abuse and Misconduct Working Group aimed to create two draft documents for consideration by Yearly Meeting 2006: 

• A policy on dealing with issues of sexual abuse and misconduct in Australian Yearly Meeting; and 
• A document that promotes the importance of right relationships at Australian Quaker gatherings. 

In 2007 draft guidelines were for consideration to Regional Meetings, and at Yearly Meeting 2008 Guidelines for Prevention and Management of Sexual Abuse and Misconduct in Australian Quaker Meetings: The Promotion of Right Relationships was accepted. 

In 2009 the committee changed its name and policy to “Respectful Relationships” and Contact Friends were appointed at that time.

It was at a Contact Friend workshop in 2015 where further changes were made to the policy, and the name for the policy was changed to “Supporting a Safe Quaker Community” (as has been the direction in other churches and faith communities). At Yearly Meeting 2016 the Committee's name was changed to Safe Quaker Community Committee and the Policy's name was changed to Supporting a Safe Quaker Community. The Regional Meeting Contact Friends were renamed as Safe Quaker Community Contact Friends.