Page 4759 - Week 13 - Tuesday, 10 November 2009
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It is the right of every Australian child—and, of course, every child in the ACT—and young person to have a safe, healthy and happy childhood, free from abuse and neglect. This is what drives the Australian and ACT governments’ child-centred family policy, as we know that supporting children in their early years can make a significant difference to their learning outcomes and establishes the foundation for social and emotional wellbeing. To this end, the Australian government has invested $53 million over four years to establish the first national framework for protecting Australian children from 2009 to 2020. The national framework represents an unprecedented level of cooperation and commitment between all levels of government and non-government organisations to protect our children. In basic terms, this means that the care and protection of children and young people is a shared responsibility and, as such, we are committed to working together to prevent child abuse and neglect.
Furthermore, the ACT government is committed to developing quality care and protection services for vulnerable children, young people and their families in the ACT that are culturally appropriate, centred on children and young people, and developed in partnership across the care and protection sector. Ms Burch mentioned her experience as a nurse, a community worker and a member of the community, a shared experience of many of us, I am sure. You, Madam Assistant Speaker, mentioned the stress that parenthood places on a person, and we all know that this is particularly the case for new parents.
In line with the commitment to provide early intervention and appropriate services to children and young people, the ACT government recently introduced new legislation—the Children and Young People Act 2008. This legislation introduced a number of new concepts and provisions which allow child protection services to better respond to the needs of vulnerable children. In particular, the legislation includes a greater emphasis on stability for children in out-of-home care; requiring decision makers to be informed by the views of children; introducing prenatal reporting provisions; providing a framework for authorisation of foster carers and foster care services; and introducing out-of-home care standards for the territory. This legislation is guided by best practice principles and, most importantly, it is based on the principle of the best interests of the child.
The protection of children and young people within our community is a shared responsibility, as I said before, requiring families, government agencies, communities, the non-government sector and governments to work together to foster the wellbeing of children and young people. Without this shared responsibility, the work we do would not get done. I am pleased to acknowledge this shared responsibility and commend everyone involved in this valuable work, as many people have before me. These are parents, extended family members, kinship carers, foster carers, teachers, community organisations, and, of course, the list goes on and on. As Ms Burch said, this valuable work is often not properly acknowledged or recognised. We have all said it is hard work. We can barely imagine some of the situations our local child protection professionals come across in the course of their work. We all know that the work they do is sometimes happening in extreme situations, and it is definitely not easy. Sometimes, as Ms Burch said, it is traumatic.
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