Umpire case prompts WA child work calls

The case of a junior football umpire who was caught with child exploitation material has bolstered calls for tighter working with minors suitability checks in Western Australia.

A Bunbury Herald report on Wednesday revealed David Wayne Bell umpired for South West Football League without a working-with-children card last year and accessed the material at the same time.

It comes a week after Auditor General Caroline Spencer reported 53 people deemed unsuitable to work with children were allowed to do so for a combined total of 14,192 days while their applications were assessed last financial year.

Some of the people were babysitting and supervising children at overnight camps.

"I just find it extraordinary," opposition leader Liza Harvey told parliament on Wednesday.

"This is an untenable situation."

Ms Harvey urged the state government to immediately prevent adults from working with children until they have been vetted and approved.

She also called for a parliamentary committee to investigate working with children checks but Premier Mark McGowan said the Department of Communities was already looking into ways to improve the system.

"Bear in mind, before working with children checks were there, which was brought in by the last Labor government, there was nothing," Mr McGowan said.

"But obviously improvements need to be made.

"We want to make sure the system works effectively."

In the case of Bell, the South West Football League had clearly made a mistake, he said.

As of this year, all of the league's umpires have required a card and expiry dates are checked, a spokeswoman told AAP.

"We asked in 2018 but somehow Mr Bell slipped through," she said.

Bell was last month sentenced to 12 months imprisonment, suspended for 18 months, for possessing child exploitation material.

He was last week fined $6000 after pleading guilty to two counts of working with children without a current assessment notice.