Attorneys-general met in Darwin on Friday to strengthen working-with-children checks across each jurisdiction, which will automatically bar a person with serious criminal offences from being able to hold a check. The country had been working towards the changes since November, federal Attorney-General Michelle Rowland said. ''These are complex reforms and I look forward to working closely with all jurisdictions to continue making progress towards national mutual recognition of working-with-children checks." Nationally consistent checks have been on the agenda for top law officers following several high-profile cases of child abuse in childcare centres. Western Australia was the last state to make changes meaning that someone with a failed working-with-children checks in one state would be banned in all, following the ACT passing laws to that effect last December, and the NT did so in February.