Matt O'Sullivan (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Choice in Childcare and Early Learning) Share this | Hansard source

Acting Deputy President Sterle, you know as well as anyone here that the children of our country are our future. The quality of life our children receive will more often than not directly impact the quality of life they maintain as adults. Studies show that, when a child is raised with positive early experiences, they have a lower risk of mental health problems or of developing any physical health conditions later in life.

I recently had the honour of being appointed the shadow minister for child protection and the prevention of family violence. Child protection does not begin with government intervention; it begins with healthy families. It begins with healthy mums and dads who have the emotional, financial and psychosocial capacity to care for their children. It's not lost on me that, for many parents across this country, this is not their reality. That sobering truth has long informed my working life. From my work prior to entering parliament I've seen both the positive and the negative impacts of family function or dysfunction and of harmony or violence. This is what drives me. The goal is simple: to strengthen families by creating opportunity and resilience. When parents have stability, their children have a strong foundation on which they can build their lives.

The goal is simple, but the work is complex. Not every parent has that resilience or the support system to lean on. For Australians in those circumstances, we must ensure that we have a functional out-of-home care system, one that can act as a safety net until those parents are empowered to get back on their feet, and our policy should focus on doing everything possible to expedite their recovery. The 2023-24 figures from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare said that there were 179,000 children in the child protection system. That number might seem large and abstract, but it's absolutely essential— (Time expired)