Children and Young People (Safety and Support) Bill
Mr Speaker I too rise to speak on the Children and Young People (Safety and Support) Bill 2024 which, as has been said is a transformative piece of legislative reform in our government’s journey to reform and improve the child protection and family support system.
Mr Speaker, as a parent myself and probably just like any other member of society, frankly, we are all devastated whenever we hear of the neglect or harm inflicted on a child by people who are supposed to provide a loving and safe environment for their child to grow and thrive.
But we know that neglectful and indeed harmful parenting have been a part of society probably throughout human history and as a government in the modern day we must do all we can to alleviate the likelihood of this occurring, and when it does, to provide the most appropriate intervention possible.
This Bill has been designed to create a legislative foundation and framework for profound and significant change. Change that ensures that the child protection system has at its core a focus on the safety and support of the child, while of course retaining that which is working well.
It of course grieves us all that these measures remain such an important part of the services that a modern government must provide but, like others in this place, when I talk about childhood abuse and neglect I speak from personal experience when I say that the harm and the effects of it never leave you, and in many respects you never recover from it, so it is best that we do all we can to prevent it ever happening and then if it does, we do all we can to support families to do better, to parent better, to place the wellbeing of the child at the forefront of all they do.
This Bill follows a review of the current Act in which nearly 1000 people engaged via public forums in both metropolitan and regional locations, online surveys, written submissions, and targeted discussions to generously share their expertise, wisdom and insights into what was working and what could be improved. The review also considered relevant findings from several external reviews and in response to the review stakeholders suggested and supported a range of reforms to deliver better outcomes for children, young people, families, and carers, with a particular focus on improving child protection responses and support for Aboriginal children and young people, families, and communities.
What is most important about this Bill, I think, is the idea that it creates a responsive, cohesive, and practical child protection and family support framework.
Amongst other changes the Bill recognises our commitment to privileging the voices of children and young people, by introducing a new Division requiring reasonable steps to be taken to ensure their voices are heard in prescribed decisions which affect them, including in:
Family group conferencing,
Case planning,
Placement decisions,
Contact decisions,
Annual reviews,
Leaving care plans, and
Internal reviews.
This is so important because we have listen to and believe children when they talk about themselves and their wellbeing. They know when they are doing well. They know when the people around them actually care and have their interests at heart.
I want to thank Minister Hildyard for incredible dedication to the children of our state, to her portfolio and to the children she is responsible for as minister. I don’t think there could be a warmer, more loving and genuine person to hold this portfolio and I know she places the utmost importance in placing children at the centre of her work in this area.
I also want to thank all the carers in our state who take a child in, and of course our own Member for Elder is one such carer, who take on the care of a child who isn’t their birth child, but you would never know, because they love the children in their care like they are their own.
I want to acknowledge the incredible contributions of all who contributed to the review, and to the Department for their dedication and hard work to ensuring we have the best child protection system we can possibly have.
This Bill is an example of the Malinauskas Labor Government’s dedication to the wellbeing of all children, in all facets of their life. It is my pleasure to give my voice and my support to this Bill.