A verification badge tells you who someone is, not how they will behave. That sounds like splitting hairs until you look at what the strongest badge on an Australian profile actually contains. A national police check is a record of disclosable court outcomes as at the day it was issued, and it says nothing about the day after. No register exists anywhere in the country of people who have cared for animals badly. Badges are a reasonable first filter, and the checking that decides whether a sit goes well is still yours to do.
Australians are right to be sceptical of trust badges. Blanket phrases about every sitter being screened get used loosely, and when the wording outruns the process the badge stops carrying information. The fix is to know what each check covers, then do the part no platform can do for you.
- Email verification confirms someone controls an inbox. It is a spam control, not a safety measure.
- ID verification confirms a person matches a government document. Identity and reliability are separate questions.
- A police check is a point-in-time record of disclosable court outcomes. Not monitoring, not a character assessment, and silent on animals.
- A membership fee is a payment barrier, not a character check. Free does not mean unsafe, and paid does not mean screened.
- Sitterly's verification is optional and user-initiated. Sitterly does not check every user, and a badge is not an endorsement.
What each badge actually proves
Email verification is automatic almost everywhere, including Sitterly. Someone enters an address, receives a link and clicks it. That is the entire test. It keeps out bulk fake sign-ups and gives the platform a way to reach the account holder. It confirms no name and no address.
Government ID verification matches a person to a document such as a driver licence or passport. That is worth something: the name belongs to an identifiable person who can be traced if something goes wrong. It cannot tell you whether that person will remember the tablets or lock the back gate.
A police check is the badge people read the most into, and the one worth understanding properly. It lists disclosable court outcomes as at the day it was run. It is a snapshot of a record, not a character reference, and the next section explains what it does and does not cover.
What an Australian police check actually is
The formal name is a Nationally Coordinated Criminal History Check. It draws on records held by police in every state and territory, and the result is either no disclosable court outcomes or a list of the outcomes that can be released. The Australian Federal Police describes its certificate as a summary of your offender history, covering criminal and traffic court outcomes, outstanding warrants and pending charges. Results can exclude spent convictions, and those rules differ by state and territory.
Getting one: cost and timing
A person can apply directly to the Australian Federal Police, or through an organisation accredited by the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission. The ACIC publishes a list of accredited bodies, which is how you confirm a provider is legitimate.
At the time of writing the AFP charges $56 for a standard check and $113 where fingerprints are required. Certificates from the online process usually come back within a few days, while anything needing fingerprints runs to a fortnight or more. Accredited providers set their own prices and turnarounds, so treat those figures as a guide and confirm the current ones at the source before you rely on them.
What a police check does not show
- It is not ongoing. The ACIC states that a check is a point in time check only, reflecting police records on the date it was released. Someone can return a clear result one day and be charged the next.
- Nobody is watching afterwards. No alert is sent later. A certificate from two years ago describes two years ago.
- It is purpose specific. The purpose on the application affects what can be released, and the ACIC advises a check is not suitable for reuse across purposes.
- It is not a character assessment. It records court outcomes, not temperament, honesty or judgement under pressure.
- It says nothing about animals. No national record exists of people who have looked after pets badly.
A clear result describes one day
No disclosable court outcomes means there was no releasable police information on the date the certificate was issued. It says nothing about the weeks afterwards. Check the date on any certificate you are shown.
References do the work badges cannot
Consumer Protection WA suggests asking for references you can personally contact alongside proof of a police certificate. A reference is the only source that speaks to behaviour. Ring rather than email. A call gives you tone, pauses and the things people only say out loud.
- How did they come to stay with you? This confirms the referee is who the sitter says they are.
- What did they do well? Open questions only. Anything answerable in one word is wasted.
- What went wrong, and how did they handle it? A referee who cannot name one hiccup either was not paying attention or did not host them.
- Would you have them back? Ask it last, then stop talking. The pause is usually the answer.
The sitter chose the referee, so you are hearing the best available case. Two references beat one. Our guide to questions to ask before confirming a sit covers the sitter side.
The new problem: AI-written profiles and messages
A well-written profile no longer proves much. Anyone can produce warm, fluent paragraphs about a lifelong love of animals in seconds, and the same goes for a first message. The old advice to watch for a personalised reply is weakening, because personalisation is now cheap.
Use this carefully. Tidying up a bio with a writing tool is not dishonest, and plenty of excellent carers write awkwardly, particularly if English is their second language. Clumsy writing is not a warning sign. You are testing for a real person with real experience, not for good prose.
- Ask something only a real answer can satisfy. Not "do you have cat experience", but "our cat spits out her tablet unless it is hidden in food, how have you managed that?" Generated text gives a confident, generic method. Someone who has done it describes the fiddly parts.
- Ask about something specific in your listing. If you mentioned the pool gate or the neighbour who feeds the chooks, ask a question that depends on having read it.
- Have a video call. A live conversation with two unscripted questions is the fastest way to see whether the profile and the person match. Scamwatch notes that scammers use AI to create fake videos and cloned audio, so treat a call as a strong signal rather than proof.
Keep it on the platform. Scamwatch's guidance on buying and selling online is to keep communications there, which preserves a record if you need to report someone.
If it is free, is it less safe?
A membership fee is a payment barrier. It removes some casual sign-ups, but it filters on willingness to pay, not on conduct. Someone with a valid card and bad intentions clears it as easily as anyone else. What actually matters is what happens if something goes wrong, and on that point no platform stands behind the arrangement regardless of what it charges. The homeowner's own cover is a separate question again, covered in our guide to home insurance when a house sitter stays.
There is a fairer version of the argument. Subscription revenue can fund moderation, support staff and dispute handling, and platforms that charge often do invest there. Preferring a paid platform for that reason is reasonable, and it is a different claim from the idea that paying users are safer people.
Cost and safety are only loosely related. What lowers risk is the same everywhere: identity you can confirm, references you ring, a conversation before you commit, and a written record of what you agreed.
How verification works on Sitterly
- Three levels. Email verification, government ID verification, and police check verification.
- Optional. Beyond email, none of it is required. Sitterly does not require police checks.
- User initiated. A member chooses to upload documents. Nothing runs in the background.
- Admin reviewed. Uploads are reviewed by Sitterly's admin team, with a stated turnaround of five business days.
- Filterable. On the Find a Sitter page, homeowners can filter for ID verification, a police check, or both.
What a Sitterly badge does not mean
Sitterly does not check every user, does not approve members and does not endorse anyone. A badge records that a document was supplied and reviewed. It is not a judgement about the person.
As the about page puts it, Sitterly supports the connection. Homeowners and sitters remain responsible for getting to know each other, discussing expectations and deciding whether to proceed.
Where badges get over-read
- Reading a badge as an endorsement. It records a document, not a verdict.
- Assuming the platform did the checking. On an optional system, a missing badge usually means nobody uploaded anything.
- Accepting a cropped screenshot. Ask for the full document with the name and issue date visible.
- Skipping the call because the profile read beautifully. That is now the profile that most needs one. Our guide to pet sitter red flags covers what to notice in conversation.
A due-diligence sequence you can run yourself
- Read the whole profile and note what is missing rather than what is present.
- Check which verifications appear, and plan to ask for the issue date on any police check.
- Send one specific question through platform messages that depends on your listing and your animals.
- Read the reply for detail rather than warmth.
- Book a video call and ask two questions you did not send in advance.
- Ask to see the certificate and ID on that call, and check the name matches.
- Ask for two references and ring both.
- Write down what you agreed, including vet authority, spending limits and emergency contacts.
Frequently asked questions
Does a police check mean a sitter is safe?
No. It means that on the day the certificate was issued there were either no disclosable court outcomes to release, or there were and you can read them. It records court outcomes within the limits of each state and territory's spent conviction rules, and says nothing about animals.
Can I ask a sitter to show me their police check?
Yes, and it is a fair request. Most people who have gone to the trouble of getting one are happy to show it. Ask for the certificate with the name and issue date visible. If someone would rather not, that is their right, and you are free to choose someone else.
How long is a police check valid for?
There is no standard validity period. The ACIC describes a check as a point in time check, and whoever relies on it decides what age of certificate to accept. Many homeowners are comfortable with one issued within the past year. That is a convention, not a rule.
Is a sitter with no badges a bad choice?
Not necessarily. On a newer platform review volume is low across the board, so a thin profile is often simply a new one. What matters is whether they answer specific questions well, will do a video call, and have references that hold up.
What a badge is worth
Verification is useful because it is narrow. Email confirms an inbox. ID confirms a person. A police check reports court outcomes on one day. Stop asking a badge to answer the question you actually care about, and it works well as a first filter.
If you want to see how much a badge narrows things in practice, browse sitters and switch the ID verified and police check filters on and off. The difference in the results shows you what the filters are doing, and who is worth a call regardless of which badges they carry.
This article is general information about verification in Australia and is not legal advice. Police check fees, timeframes and spent conviction rules change and differ between states and territories. Confirm current details with the AFP or an ACIC accredited body.
