Reflections on Child Safeguarding and the 1st Junior Australian Kendo Championships
July 2026 In the post-event milieu of packing up, paperwork, and photographs, I have been reflecting on the hopeful future of junior kendo in Australia. Just over a week ago, I had the privilege in my capacity as National Child Safeguarding officer to help plan and attend a milestone event in Australian Kendo. My sister used to work professionally as a stage manager for an elite opera company. A while ago she talked about a production that incorporated both open flames and water into the set design. Each element individually onstage requires safety protocols; both together is another level. To make this possible, both she and the other production team members had to obtain special permits and licences, undergo specialist training, prepare risk assessments, coordinate with emergency services and rehearse incident response management scenarios. This all took place before the performers even took their marks on the stage. The audience never saw this work and only ever saw the a...