Kat THEOPHANOUS (Northcote) (18:37): I am also really proud to be standing up in support of this bill which recognises a pretty simple truth – that is, that when a child is at risk responsibility does not neatly fit into one department or one portfolio.
Decisions made in housing, health, education, justice and transport shape the lives of vulnerable children every day, and when those systems are not aligned, families feel the gaps and children pay the price. This bill looks to close those gaps by making supporting vulnerable children and families a shared responsibility across the Victorian government.
Families who come into contact with child protection are not short on scrutiny. What they are often short on is time and coordinated support. Parents on reunification orders can be expected to have secure, stable housing, address health needs, engage with services and support a child’s schooling, all while navigating systems that may not be speaking to one another.
Young people leaving care are asked to build independence while juggling insecure housing, casual work and inconsistent access to help. Non-government organisations, carers and people with lived experience have been really clear about what they need and what their challenges are. The problem rarely sits with a single service; it sits in the spaces between them – a stalled handover, a missed connection, weeks lost while families retell their stories and wait for the next step.
This bill establishes the supporting stable and strong families model, which gives shared responsibility across the Victorian government to improve outcomes for vulnerable children, young people, care leavers up to the age of 25 and families engaged in family preservation or reunification.
As others have noted already in this debate, it draws on the successful corporate parenting model used in Scotland but adapts it to a Victorian context and strengthens it. Under our model, every minister, every department secretary and the Chief Commissioner of Victoria Police are jointly responsible for improving outcomes for at-risk children, young people and families.
That is a deliberate and important choice. It recognises that decisions made in education, health, housing, justice and transport all shape the lives of vulnerable children, whether or not those portfolios traditionally sit with child protection.
Every minister will be required to set out what their portfolio will do through a supporting stable and strong families plan tabled in Parliament every two years. Those commitments will be public and capable of being tested. Ministers will be required to report back to Parliament on what has been delivered, with progress measured across health, education, housing, justice, employment and Aboriginal self-determination.
The strength of this framework is its focus on that delivery.
This model is centred on children and families engaged with or at risk of entering child protection and family services. The initial focus is on children subject to family reunification and preservation orders, children in care and young people who have recently left care, but over time that focus can broaden to strengthen prevention and early intervention, helping to keep families together.
Consultation has been a really important part of the reform, including the voices of carers and of people with lived experience, and that work will continue through implementation. Kinship, foster and permanent carers will help guide what works on the ground, and I thank, as others have, those people who do this vital work in what can be very confronting and challenging circumstances. These are people who open their homes and their hearts to children in their time of need. That is a deeply special thing to do, and we need to recognise that contribution.
I also want to acknowledge and thank the Victorian Aboriginal Child and Community Agency, VACCA, who are based out of Preston, in the inner north – a proud Aboriginal community controlled organisation with really deep ties locally. I thank CEO Muriel Bamblett for her leadership and advocacy in this space on behalf of her community. VACCA’s voice has consistently reinforced what Aboriginal families have long known: when services are culturally safe, timely and properly coordinated and fundamentally based on keeping children connected with kin and culture, we see better outcomes.
These reforms build on Labor’s really strong legacy of supporting children, and one of the things that I am most proud of as a member of our Labor government is our focus on getting that best start in life for kids and giving kids opportunities.
Over the past six budgets this government has invested more than $4.4 billion in child protection and family services. Since 2014 more than 1180 additional child protection practitioner roles have been funded, meaning there are more case-carrying practitioners than ever before. In the most recent budget alone $14 million was invested to continue programs that support the frontline workforce, including kinship engagement coordinators, Aboriginal cultural support and awareness advisers and specialist litigation support.
For children in residential care our Labor government has delivered the largest single investment in care services in a decade, with $548 million to improve outcomes and ensure that from July this year every residential care home in Victoria is funded to deliver a therapeutic model of care. That means trauma-informed support, specialist expertise and care that responds to behaviour with understanding rather than punishment.
Whole-of-government action is already removing barriers for families. Parents pursuing reunification are now recognised as a priority cohort for public housing, because without stable housing reunification becomes very, very hard. Programs like pathway to good health ensure children entering care receive coordinated health assessments, and referral education support for children in care provides one-on-one tutoring for those at risk of disengaging in school.
These are practical examples of what happens when governments rally around families in the moments that matter most. That same focus runs through our key Labor reforms to ease pressure on families and strengthen the foundations that children rely on.
Free public transport removes a simple but very real barrier, helping young people get to where they need to go, whether that is training, school, appointments or community.
Free kinder takes the pressure off household budgets but also gives children those crucial early years of learning that are fundamental to their development, and it helps parents stay connected to services and their communities.
School breakfast clubs mean children do not start their days on an empty stomach.
Locally in the Northcote electorate we are building an early parenting centre – another key feature and Labor reform to help parents in those early years.
We have opened an urgent care clinic in Northcote too, giving direct access to our healthcare system.
We also recently opened a mental health and wellbeing hub in Northcote – another critical feature of a system that supports people when they are in need.
Together, these and many other everyday supports reinforce routines and stability and give children the chance for that best start.
Importantly, this bill also responds directly to the findings of the Yoorrook Justice Commission.
Yoorrook was clear that one of the greatest barriers to better outcomes for Aboriginal children and families is the failure of government systems to act together, early and with accountability. It emphasised the need for shared responsibility across government, stronger early intervention, culturally safe practice and transparent monitoring of outcomes.
The bill does not do everything in that space, but it does respond to the core principles that Yoorrook identified. By embedding shared responsibility across government and requiring public plans and progress reports, we are placing outcomes for Aboriginal children and families squarely within the accountability of every single minister.
This bill advances the systemic change that Yoorrook sought and that Victoria urgently needs. It stands alongside other landmark reforms already delivered, including legislation placing Aboriginal self-determination at the centre of decision-making and the largest single investment ever made in Aboriginal-led child and family services.
The over-representation of Aboriginal children in care continues to be unacceptable to me and my community, and it is driven by system failure. That responsibility for change must be collective, and this bill goes some way towards addressing that collective responsibility.
In Northcote we see why these reforms matter.
I hear from young people leaving care who are trying to stay connected to work and study while navigating insecure housing in particular. I speak with carers who want systems to work better together so children experience stability rather than constant disruption. This bill responds to those realities.
For women, particularly single mothers, it means earlier and better coordinated access to housing and health support.
It is a reform shaped by evidence, strengthened by lived experience and focused on the outcomes that matter.
I commend it to the house.
