Tuesday, 1 August 2023

Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency

Nathan LAMBERT (Preston) (19:03): (252) My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Child Protection and Family Services, and the action I seek is for the minister to join me in a visit to the Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency, or VACCA, in Bell Street, Preston. VACCA has a long history. It was founded back in 1977 – so it is about the same vintage as me – with just five staff and a typewriter in a small office in Fitzroy. It was founded by Aunty Mollie Dyer out of her concern with what was then a common practice of taking Aboriginal children out of their families and placing them into the care of non-Aboriginal families. Thanks to the advocacy of Aunty Dyer and VACCA, that practice was ended, and over time VACCA secured support for the important principle that Aboriginal communities and Aboriginal organisations should make decisions about the protection of Aboriginal children. That principle is at the heart of what VACCA do; they support Aboriginal children to live with their families. They have had a lot of success in making sure that wherever that is possible that is what happens, but where it is not possible, they provide alternative care and support. It is a model that this Labor government supports very strongly – I know it is close to the heart of the Premier and the minister – and it is one that we have committed to supporting through legislative changes and funding expansions earlier this year.

That brings me back to the VACCA head office. As I said, they started in Fitzroy in a small office, but because of the positive impact they have had over a long period of time, they have now relocated to a much larger office in Bell Street in Preston – in fact just three doors down from our office; theirs is much larger and fancier – and they now have a team of over 100 people there as part of a team of 500 staff statewide, the majority of whom identify as First Nations Victorians.

It is a source of great pride to those of us up in Preston that we have VACCA and other Aboriginal community controlled organisations in our patch, but I do think it is actually something as a community we could learn a bit more about. I am very keen to make sure that people do not just drive past these organisations but that we locally understand what it is that they do inside, so I am hoping that the minister’s visit will help facilitate that. I am sure she speaks regularly with Muriel Bamblett, who is the very impressive CEO of that organisation. The minister’s visit will be a chance for us to learn a little bit more about what they do locally and the important child protection and family support work that they do across the state with the support of this Labor government. I thank the minister for her consideration.