Wednesday, 1 November 2023

Ministers statements: Commission for Children and Young People

Lizzie BLANDTHORN (Western Metropolitan – Minister for Children, Minister for Disability) (12:06): I rise to inform the house of the release of the 2022–23 Commission for Children and Young People annual reportearlier today. In doing so I thank the principal commissioner for children and young people Liana Buchanan and the commissioner for Aboriginal children and young people Meena Singh for their continued work and strong advocacy for at-risk children across Victoria. Since becoming the minister responsible for child protection and family services after the last election and now Minister for Children, I have appreciated the advice of both commissioners in how we can improve the lives of children and young people across Victoria. Their perspectives and intelligence have been invaluable.

As this house would be aware, we are continuing to improve the child safety, child protection and family services systems, and I thank the commissioners for acknowledging this work in their annual report. On page 10 the commissioners acknowledge that the government has demonstrated a genuine appetite for reform. This past year we have seen the Victorian government’s major investment to improve residential care as well as funds to bolster support for care leavers and strengthen child protection’s response to sexual exploitation. On page 17 they advise that:

We were heartened this year by the Victorian Government’s recognition, through its $548.4 million investment in the 2023–24 State Budget, of the urgent need to improve residential care. Responding to our findings in In our own words, the investment will see therapeutic supports being provided for all children in residential care and an increase in the availability of two- and three-bedroom residential care placements.

To remind the house, the 2023–24 state budget included an $895 million investment to protect children and keep families together, building on the $3.1 billion invested since the 2019–20 state budget. The 2023–24 budget included a record $548 million towards delivering improved outcomes for children in residential care, including funding to ensure all children in residential care are supported to access therapeutic supports by 2025–26 – the biggest single investment in care services – and $140 million to transform the children and family service system to reduce the over-representation of Aboriginal children, young people and families. This represents the largest ever single investment to continue and expand the Aboriginal-led service system.