I move:

That this House:

(1) notes that National Child Protection Week will be held from 6 to 12 September 2026;

(2) recognises:

(a) that the campaign promotes early intervention, strong communities and the importance of checking in with one another to help keep children, young people and families safe; and

(b) the invaluable contribution of frontline workers, volunteers and community organisations across Australia who support children, young people and families experiencing vulnerability, including those working in domestic and family violence services, child protection, education, healthcare, mental health and policing;

(3) welcomes the Government's continued investment in preventing family, domestic and sexual violence and improving outcomes for children through:

(a) the implementation of the National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children 2022-2032;

(b) making the Leaving Violence Program permanent with almost $1 billion in funding;

(c) the $4.7 billion national cabinet package to accelerate action to end gender-based violence and deliver on the national action plan;

(d) the Our Ways-Strong Ways-Our Voices: National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander plan to End Family, Domestic and Sexual Violence 2026-2036, backed by $218 million; and

(e) the Commonwealth's ongoing commitment to Safe and Supported: the National Framework for Protecting Australia's Children 2021-2031 and the National Strategy to prevent and Respond to Child Sexual Abuse; and

(4) encourages all Australians to use National Child Protection Week as an opportunity to check in on family members, friends, neighbours and colleagues, to look out for the safety and wellbeing of children, and to help connect people with support when they need it.

For me, as a mum of three, there is nothing more important than knowing my kids are safe, and certainly, as the member for Bonner, I want the same thing for every single child in our community and right across our country. We have almost 50 schools in Bonner—thousands of children growing up in our suburbs playing weekend sport, going to kindy, starting school and making friends, and every single one of them deserves to grow up safe, supported and loved. But we know that is not the reality for every child. The Australian Child Maltreatment Study found that more than 62 per cent of Australians experienced at least one form of maltreatment before the age of 18. That includes physical and emotional abuse, sexual abuse, neglect, and exposure to domestic and family violence. But, this National Child Protection Week, the key message is., 'Every conversation matters.'

Across Bonner, I meet the people who are doing that work every single day to protect our kids—our teachers and our childhood educators, our police and health workers, our sporting clubs and community organisations, and the incredible frontline workers supporting families through some of the hardest moments of their lives. Each one tells me just how important early intervention is, because protecting children cannot begin only after something awful has happened in their lives. It means supporting families before they reach crisis, it means making sure a parent who is struggling has somewhere to turn, and it means giving families the tools and support they need to build safe and stable homes.

That is why the Albanese Labor government is investing $1.7 billion through the Children and Family Support Program. That investment will support services like the Raising Children Network, providing families with trusted, evidence based parenting information, and organisations like Brave Foundation, helping young parents stay connected to education and training as well as employment.

We cannot talk about child protection without talking about family and domestic violence. Children do not simply witness domestic and family violence; they experience it, they hear it, they live with the fear and the instability it creates, and its impacts, of course, can flow through their entire lives. In Bonner, we are fortunate to have extraordinary organisations supporting women and children experiencing violence. Our government has invested more than $4.4 billion to take action to end domestic and family violence, and, importantly, we are strengthening the way we recognise and support children who experience that violence. The Second Action Plan under the National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children will focus on enhancing support for children and young people who have experienced violence, because, as I said before, children and young people are victims-survivors in their own right and we must have systems and processes in place to protect them. Their safety and recovery cannot be an afterthought.

Child protection also looks different today to when many of us were growing up. As a mum, I know the internet is now a part of our children's lives, of course, but a child can be sitting safely at home and still be exposed to incredibly harmful material through the device in their hand or on their screen. Pornography, bullying and abuse, content promoting eating disorders, dangerous ideas being promoted about how to treat women and girls, content glorifying crime and life-threatening stunts, and addictive features designed to keep children and young people online. Parents should not have to fight that battle alone. That is exactly why the Albanese Labor government has taken world-leading action on social media to restrict access for children under 16, and why we are now progressing a digital duty of care that puts greater responsibility where it belongs, on the companies designing and operating these platforms.

When I think about Child Protection Week, I think about the kids growing up in Bonner. Of course I think about my own kids, but I also think about the kind of community we want them to inherit. Child protection is not just the responsibility of government; it's a teacher who notices something that has changed, coaches who are checking in with kids at sport, neighbours checking in and asking if everything is okay. Every single conversation matters, and what we do after that conversation matters even more. So this Child Protection Week, let's turn our conversation into action. Let's listen when children speak, let's support families before they reach crisis and let's make sure every child growing up across Australia is safe and loved.

Is there a seconder for the motion?

I second the motion and reserve my right to speak.

Today I want to talk about the National Child Protection Week from 6 to 12 September of this year. I want to acknowledge the important work being done right across Australia to keep children and young people safe. This year's theme is particularly powerful: 'Every conversation matters, shifting conversations to action'. Talking about the safety and wellbeing of children matters. Talking about family violence matters. Talking about mental health, vulnerability, neglect and the pressures facing families matters. But conversations alone are not enough. The real challenge is making sure those conversations lead to action.

Here I'd like to mention quickly my recent trip to the APY Lands with Julian Leeser, the federal shadow minister for Indigenous Australians. The APY Lands are remote Indigenous communities in the far north-west of South Australia. They have a lot of challenges, particularly when it comes to the youth in those communities. Some of those schools have between 160 to 180 kids on the books. When I was there, the attendance rates were somewhere between 10 and 20. Most of those schools have about 50 to 60 children that have not been seen in years, and the principals refuse to take them off their lists because hopefully one day they'll pop up somewhere. These are the realities of what goes on in some of these communities. What frustrates me is that DCP seem to treat Indigenous kids different to non-Indigenous children. You see it in black and white up in these remote communities. If there is a child in danger and the parent is an Indigenous parent, DCP has different rules. I don't think that's acceptable. That is letting harm happen to our young Indigenous children. Something's got to change.

Back to my address. As I said, these moments can be small, but every intervention can make a huge difference. National Child Protection Week reminds us that protecting children isn't only about responding when something has gone terribly wrong. It's also about preventing harm before it occurs. It's about building strong families and strong communities where children feel safe, valued, heard and, of course, supported. That requires all of us.

I want to acknowledge the incredible contribution of the frontline workers, the volunteers, the community organisations who work every day to support vulnerable children, young people and their families. This includes people working in child protection, domestic and family violence, education, health care, mental health and policing. These are not the most attractive jobs for young people coming out of school and university, but it's important work. Sometimes it's thankless work, but it's very important work, and I want to thank those that do it.

Many of these organisations in the regions are volunteer driven. They are often incredibly difficult jobs. These volunteers are dealing with families at some of the most challenging points in their lives. They see the consequences of violence, instability, trauma and disadvantage. Yet every day they continue to show up for children and families who need someone in their corner. Their contribution deserves our recognition and our support.

We should also acknowledge that keeping children safe is inseparable from addressing family and domestic violence. Children don't have to be the direct target of violence to be harmed by it. Growing up in a home where violence, fear or intimidation is present can leave lasting consequences for a child's development, wellbeing and sense of safety. As I was speaking with some of the amazing teachers and principals up in the APY Lands and in other communities across the state or the electorate of Grey, I was thinking about Maslow's hierarchy of needs. If a child feels unsafe and is hungry, that is no place for them to learn. That is the most important part for some of our young kids who are in vulnerable situations.

That's why prevention matters, and ensuring that families can access the right services at the right time. Due to lack of investment and lack of support, this does not always happen in regional South Australia, despite family violence being more prevalent in the regions. That's why government investment in preventing family, domestic and sexual violence and improving outcomes for children is so critical.

For most children, being protected is something they don't have to think about. They believe that home is safe. They believe that if something scares them an adult will be there to hold their hand. They expect the people around them to notice when something is wrong. But, unfortunately, some children and young people are not protected. Childhood can look very different. A child living with violence can become hypervigilant, attuned to what is happening around them and their perpetrator. A change in someone's voice, energy or footsteps influences their responses. They learn when it is better to stay quiet and when to hide.

At the Dunkley domestic and family violence round table I heard from workers about children protecting themselves, their siblings or their parents from being abused. These are things no child should have to learn. I have worked with children who have needed protection, and their experiences have stayed with me. As an adult it can be difficult to understand that children don't always have the words to explain what is happening to them. Sometimes they don't know that what they are experiencing isn't normal. Sometimes they are frightened about what will happen if they speak up. A child might never say, 'I'm not safe.' Instead, they might say they don't want to go home. They might stop concentrating at school. They might change their behaviour, becoming angry or simply becoming very quiet in an attempt to become invisible.

That is why the adults around children matter so much. A teacher can notice a change, a sporting coach can ask a child if everything is okay and a neighbour can hear or see something that doesn't seem quite right. One trusted adult can be the person who gives them the confidence to speak out. And, when they do, we need to make sure there is somewhere for children to be listened to.

I welcome the continued investment by the Australian government in preventing family, domestic and sexual violence and improving outcomes for children. The National Plan to End Family Violence against Women and Children provides an important framework for this work. Making the Leaving Violence Program permanent is also significant, as is the broader investment through National Cabinet to accelerate action on gender based violence. There is also important work through Our Ways—Strong Ways—Our Voices: National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Plan to End Domestic and Sexual Violence and the Safe and Supported framework for protecting Australia's children.

But ultimately the success of these policies should not just be measured by the programs we establish or the money we invest. It should be measured by whether a child is safer, whether they know that someone will listen when they ask for help, whether they can go to school and think about being a child rather than worrying about what is happening at home and whether we intervene early enough to change the course of a young person's life so they remain engaged at school, which is vital to their learning and development.

National Child Protection Week is a reminder that child protection isn't only the responsibility of specialist services. All of us have a role to play. We need to pay attention to the children around us, we need to take concerns very seriously and, most importantly, we must make sure children know that they will be believed when they speak out. Children should not have to become resilient because the adults around them fail to protect them. They should simply be allowed to be children. Every child deserves to grow up feeling safe, supported and valued. That is what child protection should mean, and that is a standard we should commit to with fierce determination.

I rise in support of this motion. National Child Protection Week was held last week, from 6 to 12 September, under the theme 'Every Conversation Matters, Shifting Conversation to Action'. The week is over, so it's a shame this wasn't spoken to then. However, a child is not made safe by just one week in September, and a child is not at risk only in that week.

Let me put the scale of this problem on the record. The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare reports that in 2023-24 around 179,000 Australian children came into contact with the child protection system—that's about one in 31—and 42,100 were the subjects of substantiated maltreatment. Almost three in four of those children, around 129,000, were repeat clients—that is, they'd been in contact with the system before.

Online child abuse is accelerating like wildfire. The Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation received 82,764 reports of online child sexual exploitation in 2024-25. That was a 41 per cent increase from the year before. That is 226 reports each and every single day, and each one contains the images of a real child.

The ACCCE was announced by a coalition government in March 2018 and funded with $68.6 million over four years in the 2018-19 budget. It's based in Brisbane and led by the Australian Federal Police, and I want to give a shout-out and recognition to Peter Dutton for establishing it and the great work he's done in that space. At the last election, the coalition committed to doubling its funding—a commitment the Parliamentary Budget Office costed as ongoing from 1 July 2025. Since then, reports have risen nearly sixfold. The case for that commitment has not weakened; it has hardened.

I acknowledge the people who carry out this work: the ACCCE officers who look at that material so no reasonable people have to and the child protection workers, police, teachers and nurses alongside them. We ask them to see the worst of human behaviour and then go home and be ordinary people. That deserves saying more than just once a year.

I recognise Bravehearts, whose Ditto's Keep Safe Adventure Program has reached more than 1½ million Australian children since 2006.

I also want to make special mention of three organisations from my part of the world. The first is Destiny Rescue, founded on the Sunshine Coast in 2001. This year it marked 25 years of service and more than 25,000 children and vulnerable people rescued from sexual exploitation and trafficking, working alongside law enforcement across multiple countries. They don't stop at rescuing children. They provide counselling, medical care, education and vocational training.

The second is the Daniel Morcombe Foundation. On 7 December 2003, a 13-year-old boy in a red shirt stood at a bus stop at Woombye, and he never came home. Daniel was abducted and murdered. What Daniel's parents, Bruce and Denise Morcombe, did next is one of the most remarkable things any Australian family have ever done. In May 2005, they established the Daniel Morcombe Foundation to teach children how to stay safe in person and online. That education is free. Their Walk Tall counselling service supports young victims of crime directly. Day for Daniel is now the country's largest child safety education day, and this year it falls on Friday 30 October. They took the worst years of their lives and turned them into a lesson that has protected other people's children for more than 20 years. 'Recognise, react, report' is their motto. So, to this House: wear red on 30 October.

Thirdly, I want to recognise Conrad Townsend from IFYS and the great work he's doing in preventing child trafficking.

We need to have the conversation with the children in our lives. Let's keep backing the people who do this work every other week of the year. But conversations are the easy part; this parliament needs to keep funding organisations like these three special groups.

The time allotted for this debate has expired. The debate is adjourned, and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.