At regular intervals over many years, reports on problems and shortcomings of the care and protection of children in out-of-home care have been produced. Unfortunately, it seems that these reports had minimal impact in achieving a system that was responsive, accountable and achieved outcomes in the best interest of children. A spate of more recent reports for a number of States and Territories reveal crisis-ridden child protection systems that are under-resourced, under-funded and understaffed, resulting in a high turnover of over-worked and inexperienced workers. They have also found that the crisis-ridden systems have resulted in children at risk not being adequately protected.

The Committee considers that the improvement of the child protection system is of fundamental importance for the development of our nation. The social and economic cost of not fully addressing these issues will only escalate in the future. The protection of children needs to be at the forefront of government policy agendas within all jurisdictions.