E&OE TRANSCRIPT
Good morning.
Thank you to AIFS for inviting me to address your 17th conference.
I’d like to start by acknowledging that I am coming to you from Ngunnawal land.
I pay my respects to elders past and present.
I’m sorry I can’t join you in person, but I am pleased to be able to share some opening remarks.
I think your theme ‘Families thriving? Asking the big questions. Influencing Change is so pertinent.
As a government, we are determined to influence change and create an Australia where everyone can thrive.
Where children can grow up safe, connected and supported in their family, community, and culture.
Of course, the work you do helps shape our work to address the emerging challenges faced by families.
So it’s great that AIFS have been able to bring so many researchers, policy makers, service providers and practitioners together.
To ask the big questions to share knowledge and insights across the sector – and hopefully, answer some of those questions as well.
There are two key ingredients that good policy should be based on – evidence and the centring of experience.
That’s the foundation that we are building all our reform work on.
We’ve achieved a lot in the last two years. I wanted to take this opportunity to update you on some of the strategies very briefly.
Putting women and children at the centre of practice has been part of our efforts to address family, domestic and sexual violence from the day we formed government.
That’s why our National Plan to End Violence Against Women and Children recognised children as victim-survivors of violence in their own right for the first time.
The plan is built on the existing evidence base that showed the clear need to take a multi-pronged approach across four intersecting domains –
prevention, early intervention, response, and healing and recovery.
We need to – and we are – investing in all four domains to break the cycle.
To reach our ambitious goal of ending gender-based violence in a generation.
By now I hope you have all seen our new consent campaign – Consent can’t wait – on the television, at the cinema or on social media.
Based on evidence, it was developed after extensive research with Australians, victim-survivors and experts.
It encourages adults to build a shared community understanding about consent so they can talk to children of all ages – and each other.
So that everyone can play a part in ending gender-based violence.
Now I know that many of you have long called for better involvement of First Nations People in policy that impacts them.
Of course, one way we will embed the voices in policy is through our dedicated National Commissioner for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and Young People.
We are also working in other historic new ways to make a difference in Aboriginal children's lives.
For the first time in March this year, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people sat at a decision-making table with the same status as governments.
We now equally share both the decision-making and the responsibility for progress on our National Framework for Protecting Australia’s Children – Safe and Supported – to reduce the rate of child abuse and neglect and its impact across generations.
It’s a different way of working, true partnership, and was described by my co-chair, SNAICC CEO Catherine Liddle, as ‘a demonstration of the National Agreement on Closing the Gap in action’.
Consistent with Priority four of Closing the Gap, Safe and Supported empowers Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to have access to local relevant data and information.
And importantly the capability to use this evidence to set their priorities and drive progress.
We are consistently building the evidence base for this plan.
We know we need to achieve systemic change.
To do that we are working to ensure all our strategies align with each other and national initiatives.
Last month I launched our Early Years Strategy alongside my colleague Dr Anne Aly, Minister for Early Education.
It is a ten-year roadmap that sets an overarching vision to provide Australia’s children with the best start possible.
The strategy drew on the existing literature to explain the importance of the early years as part of a child’s development.
Importantly, it strives to make sure funding and programs are no longer siloed and there is better coordination across government.
And it puts children front and centre for the first time by actively seeking out their voices and perspectives.
Our Strategy also commits us to being responsive to the needs of families while being evidence informed.
So we are always looking for innovative ways to support families – pilots that are backed up with quality data to demonstrate they improve lives.
The Inklings Program for infants showing early behavioural differences is a good example of this.
If you haven’t heard of it, it’s an intervention pilot that addresses the issue of social and communication differences in babies aged 6 to 18 months.
It’s not about fixing them, instead it helps parents better connect with their babies with the assistance of a trained practitioner.
And it gives families early access to supports, rather than waiting for a diagnosis.
It’s based on world-leading research and has been found to have great results for the children who took part in the trial.
So I’m pleased we are now able to roll it out more widely.
And, of course, we continue to draw on evidence and research to develop our National Carer’s Strategy.
I know that carers often feel unseen and unappreciated.
So we’re making great efforts to do extensive face-to-face engagement and hear as many diverse experiences first-hand as we can.
Of course, we’ll combine this with the best available empirical evidence from across aged care, disability, veteran’s affairs and mental health.
And finally, I know many of you will have had input into the NDIS Review.
In response National Cabinet has agreed to jointly design and fund foundational supports.
The NDIS Review proposed that Foundational Supports comprise both ‘general’ supports – like information and advice for all people with disability.
And more ‘targeted’ supports- for people who are not eligible for the NDIS and are most in need of additional support.
Details need to be worked through with stakeholders and state and territory governments, so I’ll have more news about that soon.
The Government will also make investments to improve the experience of participants and secure the future of the NDIS – in line with the review.
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That’s just a very brief overview of some of the reforms we’ve made.
I hope it proves that we have been leveraging the latest evidence, asking the big questions and influencing change.
Because children and families deserve every opportunity to thrive.
But having the strategies in place is only part of the work.
It needs a strong child and family services sector to deliver these strategies.
Work that involves people here at this conference.
You are the ones at the coalface. You not only provide the evidence to inform the strategies, you bring them to life.
It’s vital work and I’d like to thank you all for all that you do to support and improve the wellbeing of families.
And I would also like to thank AIFS for hosting today’s event.
For facilitating a forum where you can all share experiences and on-the-ground evidence of what is working for Australian families.
I wish you a productive few days and look forward to hearing about your conversations.
Thank you.