Dean Smith (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister to the Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the National Commission for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and Young People Bill 2026 and the associated transitional provisions bill. At the outset, I acknowledge the seriousness of the issues facing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children today, issues that demand practical action, accountability and a relentless focus on outcomes and the front line. I make these comments on behalf of the responsible shadow minister.

The bill empowers the national commissioner to promote, improve and support the rights, safety and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, while driving greater accountability for policies impacting this group. The associated transitional provisions bill ensures the continuity of the national commission as it transfers from an executive agency to a statutory authority. But this empowerment, unfortunately, will do little.

Indigenous Australians deserve more than symbolism. They deserve more than Canberra-centric bureaucracy. They do not need more talk or more consultation. They need resources and for our focus to be on the front line. They certainly deserve more than the legislation constructed to sound transformative while offering little substance to turn the dial on disadvantage. They need a government focused on outcomes, not headlines. After carefully considering the bills, the detail of the proposed commission, the consultation undertaken and the record of this government, the coalition will oppose this legislation.

There's no question that improved outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children must be a national priority, but the evidence is clear. Under this Albanese Labor government, outcomes are going backwards. Under Labor's watch, four Closing the Gap targets are worsening: adult incarceration, children in out-of-home care, children commencing school developmentally on track, and suicide. Youth detention is up 11 per cent, preschool attendance is down 2.6 per cent and 1.2 per cent fewer Indigenous children are developmentally on track when they start school. Child safety indicators are worsening, and the system is not responding quickly enough. Yet this government's answer is to add another national bureaucracy rather than to direct resources to the frontline services in communities where they are now so desperately needed.

The Prime Minister has repeatedly pointed to structural change as the solution, but, in reality, structural change without functional outcomes is meaningless to a child living in overcrowded housing, exposed to violence, not attending school or being removed from their family. Structural change, Prime Minister, is not about building structures. It is about deploying the efforts of existing structures to maximise effect, and dealing with those organisations you fund that are not contributing as intended. This bill lacks any focus on frontline responses, and the coalition will not support it. The bill is not the answer that children in desperate need need.

The government argues the bill will create an independent and empowered national commissioner by transitioning the current executive agency to a statutory authority, but, when we look at it closely, it becomes clear this is not a commission designed to fix a failing system; it is a commission designed to look like reform. The commissioner's functions mirror what already exist across multiple Commonwealth, state and territory bodies. These functions include coordination, research, inquiry, advocacy, providing advice to government, engagement programs for children and education initiatives. These responses are about talking action, not taking action. There is a very big difference between these two points.

The bill adds extensive compulsory information-gathering powers, including the ability to compel individuals or organisations to provide information or appear before hearings, backed in by civil penalties. But who could the commissioner be consulting that is not already captured in consultation that governments and others are already undertaking? The commission will cost $33.5 million over the forward estimates, and it adds yet another layer of bureaucracy on top of a system already saturated with commissions, councils, working groups, peak bodies, statutory offices and advisory structures.

What the bill does not add is a single measurable, practical improvement to the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people needing a response to their crises now. This body duplicates existing roles and functions. It duplicates the work of the National Children's Commissioner, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner and the multiple Indigenous-specific children's commissioners already operating in the ACT, Queensland, South Australia and Victoria. In addition, it overlaps with the Department of Social Services, which is already required to consult children and young people. It holds few functions not shared by state and territory child protection, education, youth justice and health agencies, where the real levers sit and which states and territories control. This new commissioner's work is essentially about consultation, providing advice to government, undertaking research and advocacy. As the gap continues to widen on the Albanese government's watch, there is no gap that this commission will fill. Instead, the focus should be on ensuring existing bodies do their jobs within their existing remits. The government's focus must be on ensuring resources are applied to where there is potential for the greatest and most immediate change, and that is in frontline services.

This commission reinforces and replays the Albanese government's track record of creating Canberra based structures to respond to community based challenges. It's bureaucracy masquerading as reform. The government says the commissioner will coordinate the efforts of states and territories, yet the bill offers no explanation of what powers or mechanisms the commissioner has to do so. There is no detail on how an educational program will be delivered across diverse, remote communities, nor an explanation of what unique power the national commissioner will have to speak directly to children when every government agency and independent commissioner already has that capability and responsibility.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people regularly report consultation fatigue. It is unclear how the national commissioner will not just be an additional outreach body consulting the same people on the same issues. Indigenous community leaders are clear and their message is consistent: ample consultation has been done. It is now time for action. It is time for implementation and respect for the work that has already been done.

It's extraordinary that the government's primary justification for this bill rests on consultation that was limited in scope, circular in nature and heavily reliant on advocates who are already supporters of the concept contained in this legislation. The person most consulted ahead of establishing the commission was the same individual appointed as the inaugural commissioner, Sue-Anne Hunter, fresh from her previous role as commissioner for the Yoorrook Justice Commission. The government relied heavily on a single, one-off First Nations youth roundtable tied closely to the SNAICC—again, one of the most vocal proponents of this commission. Stakeholder diversity was limited, and alternative perspectives, including from frontline workers, child protection case managers, school principals in remote communities and families themselves, were not meaningfully included. Yet, against the evidence, this government claims that the bill reflects the voices of children.

This national commission will be rich in symbolism but devoid of practical measures. Symbolic policymaking has become the hallmark of this government. The bill uses expansive language about human rights and cultural identity but fails to address why children are unsafe, why school attendance is falling, why youth detention is rising or why entire communities are struggling to maintain stable environments for young people. The government cannot continue to ignore the real failures of existing systems, only to shift accountability to a new body when those systems fail. The job of ministers in this government is to demand accountability, not divest it to someone else. The first job of any government is to keep its people safe. Protecting vulnerable children is not a job the Albanese Labor government can outsource.

To be clear, everyone in this place is on a unity ticket that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children deserve every opportunity to grow up safe, supported and thriving. But there is nothing in this bill that ensures outcomes change. The Closing the gap report due for release later will likely try to gloss over worsening indicators for children in care, children developmentally on track and children experiencing harm. The government will attempt to point to this bill as proof that it is taking action to make a difference, but codifying a national commissioner with the power to write reports does not put a child in school, does not remove a child from danger and does not support parents to rear healthier, happier, safer children. This position will cost taxpayers millions of dollars but will do nothing to address the issues most immediately affecting Indigenous children and young people. Despite the best intentions, the national commissioner will not close the gap. The government must not be judged on the number of bureaucratic structures it creates but on the outcomes it achieves for the most vulnerable Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people.

Currently, state and territory governments hold the responsibility for the key systems impacting children: education, child protection, corrections and health. Nationally, the Department of Social Services, the National Indigenous Australians Agency and the Coalition of Peaks also hold major roles in supporting Closing the Gap outcomes. As Minister McCarthy stated when scrapping cross-portfolio Indigenous estimates last year, improving outcomes for Indigenous Australians is a whole-of-government priority. It is therefore those agencies which must be held accountable—by her, not by a third-party, so-called independent commissioner. This bill explicitly shifts that accountability away from government and onto the commissioner. It does so by establishing a body that will drive accountability for policies impacting this group. The only real opportunity that exists here is for responsible ministers to blame the commissioner, not the ministers responsible and the policy responses that contribute to making the gap much worse and much wider.

The cost of this commission, as previously stated, is $33.5 million over the forward estimates and $9.33 million ongoing. The coalition believes that this funding could instead support dozens of remote school attendance programs, fund additional child protection workers in crisis-level regions, strengthen domestic violence interventions, support alcohol restrictions and community safety plans or provide early developmental support for vulnerable children. Every dollar should go where it can make the greatest difference. That's why the coalition has always prioritised frontline delivery, not bureaucratic expansion.

The coalition's position is guided by longstanding principles. Australia has had enough of symbolic gestures. Real improvements demand evidence based interventions. The answer is stronger governance, performance monitoring and transparency of existing organisations, not additional bodies that defuse responsibility. Funding must flow to organisations with proven governance and results, not those with the loudest voices, and the government must act to end funding to those whose operations fail the very people they are designed or exist to help. The coalition is focused on breaking welfare dependency, supporting families and ensuring children attend school—all protective factors that change trajectories and change lives.

Finally, community-level challenges will never be solved from Canberra. These principles stand in stark contrast to what this bill represents. The coalition has further, deeper concerns about this bill that must be addressed. The government has repeatedly elevated structures, panels and bureaucratic bodies in place of genuine engagement and measurable improvements. Across multiple areas, including family violence, youth justice, community safety and child protection, the Albanese government has consistently failed to listen to the voices of children. For instance, the University of Adelaide's report into the impacts of the cessation of the cashless debit card, vetted and watered down by the Department of Social Services, notably did not include a single child's voice.

If the Albanese government were serious about improving outcomes, it would prioritise practical, measurable interventions. It would introduce policies to improve school attendance, especially in remote communities, where attendance rates have collapsed. It would strengthen child protection systems, ending the care-criminalisation cycle, where children in out-of-home care all too often end up in contact with youth justice. It would support early childhood development, ensuring every child commences school on track. As the National Children's Commissioner titled her landmark report, children need 'help way earlier'. It would also confront the drivers of violence, not just talk about them. This means responding to the havoc created by the Albanese government's reckless decision to allow alcohol restrictions to lapse in the Northern Territory and ideologically remove the cashless debit card. It is those things that contributed to the outcomes ending up much worse for Indigenous young people.

None of these priorities are meaningfully advanced by the creation of a national commissioner. For all these reasons, the coalition will oppose this bill. We oppose it because it duplicates existing structures. We oppose it because it diverts funding away from frontline needs. We oppose it because it shifts accountability away from agencies responsible for delivering the services that are designed to help.

Jana Stewart (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak in support of the National Commission for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and Young People Bill 2026. I think that the opposition's position on this bill is very telling. They think that we would blame the national commissioner for the systemic failures across the nation that our children are experiencing. That is absolutely not the intention of something like this. In fact, it is the opportunity for the commission to reflect back to government where the failures are in the system that are letting down our children.

While those opposite might be afraid to have some of the failures that happened under their watch reflected back at them through a position like this, we are very happy to hear, from people like the commissioner, where it is that government can be doing better. This is not about blaming other people; this is actually about holding government accountable on the things that we say we are going to do. That's what this commission will have the opportunity to do.

Right now, in this chamber, we do have a chance to write the next chapter for First Nations children—one that gives them strength, dignity and the promise of a future that they deserve. This moment has been hard won. For decades, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leaders and community organisations have pushed for a national voice that could stand up for their children and hold systems to account. In 2019, more than 70 organisations came together to call for a national commissioner, to hold systems accountable and improve outcomes for our children. Now, again, those opposite are choosing to not listen to the voices of Aboriginal people. Seventy organisations came together and asked for this commission. For decades, they've been asking for something like this. And this government is acting on that ask. It is a simple thing to do. I want to recognise the work of those leaders and the people who have pushed for change and refused to have our children be overlooked.

This legislation strengthens accountability and oversight in areas where progress for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children has stalled. It establishes a dedicated, independent national advocate for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people, backed by $33.5 million in new funding and $8.4 million a year, ongoing, to support the commission's operations.

Unlike the way those opposite have categorised it, this is not 'pie'—it's not like spending money here means you're taking money from the front lines. That is not how it works. This is a 'both and': you need to continue to fund the front lines as well as making sure that we have somebody looking, nationally, at the systems that support our kids and being able to reflect that back to government when they're not working. This is a 'both and'; it's not an 'either or', as it has been categorised in this chamber.

This bill equips the national commissioner with the authority and powers needed to ensure a unified approach across governments, strengthen accountability and confront the systemic barriers that continue to disadvantage our children and young people. Concretely, this bill gives the national commissioner clear statutory functions and operational powers to undertake inquiries and research into systemic issues; to hear directly from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people and families and support their participation; to run education and rights-awareness programs for children—that's really important; to promote and enhance coordination across Commonwealth, state and territory agencies, commissioners and community organisations—again, that's incredibly important; to advise government on policy, program design and service delivery—again, it's really important to get that information from the people who are doing the frontline work, as you can't just make things up on the run as those opposite might like to do; and to use information-gathering powers to require responses from agencies, so that recommendations don't get ignored—that seems important to me. Like other independent oversight bodies, the commissioner will have the authority to conduct inquiries, make formal recommendations to government and engage in public advocacy, research and education.

I also want to acknowledge Professor Sue-Anne Hunter, who will serve as the first national commissioner. I have known Sue-Anne for many years; we first met when we both worked at VACCA, the Victorian Aboriginal childcare agency, many years ago. As a social worker, and as a passionate advocate for First Nations children and families, she has dedicated her career to improving the outcomes for our young people. I know she will bring her heart, her experience and her unwavering commitment to standing up for every First Nations child.

What makes this office unique is that it is the only national position solely focused on the rights, wellbeing and bright futures of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people. If we're serious about closing the gap, then we can't keep accepting a system where Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander kids are 11 times more likely to be in out-of-home care. That is the same system where First Nations young people are 27 times more likely than non-Indigenous young people to be in youth detention. On top of that, only around one in three Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, 33.9 per cent nationally, are assessed as being developmentally on track across all five domains when they start school.

These figures reveal the systemic scale of the challenge that this bill will absolutely work to change. This commission will help change that story. These young people are descendants of the world's oldest continuous living culture, spanning more than 65,000 years. They deserve the chance to grow up connected to their family, community, culture and country. This bill acts as a strong accountability mechanism that ensures the government fulfils its commitments to our children and families. These aren't just numbers. They are nieces, nephews, cousins—the children of our communities. They deserve to grow up with family, culture and country and with the freedom to hope. This bill gives them a fighting chance to do exactly that, and it's on us to make sure that we don't let them down.

Today many First Nations children face uncertainty every day. They move between homes, struggle to access consistent support and risk losing connection to their families and culture. With this bill, their daily lives could look very different. Children would have advocates ensuring that they receive the services they need and that they remain connected to their communities and country. This bill gives these children the chance to grow up feeling seen and connected to who they are and where they come from. It gives them somebody who is always in their corner. It gives them someone who will stand with them when systems fail them and a way to be heard in decisions that shape their lives. We cannot let them down.

Larissa Waters (Queensland, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I acknowledge that I'm standing here today on the unceded land of the Ngunnawal and Ngambri people, and I honour their elders past and present and their future leaders. I'm thinking of those future leaders today as we debate the National Commission for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and Young People Bill 2026 and the National Commission for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and Young People (Transitional Provisions) Bill 2026. First Nations communities, the community controlled sector and the Family Matters leadership group have called for an independent national commissioner for children for many years. The role was announced in 2024 and began operating within the department, but this legislation will create the independence that the community has called for from the outset.

It comes at a critical time with much work to do. The latest Closing the Gap data confirms the ongoing and unacceptable overrepresentation of First Nations children in prisons and in out-of-home care. First Nations kids are now 20 times more likely to be in custody than non-Indigenous kids. Tragically, last year Western Australia recorded the first death of a First Nations youth while in custody. Overpolicing, institutionalised and systemic racism, racial profiling and draconian mandatory sentencing laws are all risk factors contributing to the overrepresentation of First Nations youth in detention. Lifting the age of criminal responsibility is an essential step to reducing overincarceration and addressing a key threat to the safety and wellbeing of First Nations youth. I will be moving a second reading amendment calling for all governments to finally listen to the experts and raise the age of criminal responsibility to 14.

Too often disadvantage becomes criminalised when Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children lack access to appropriate supports and services. One in seven First Nations kids will have an out-of-home care placement by the time they're 13. SNAICC predicts that without significant policy shifts the numbers will increase by 34 per cent over the next 10 years. Despite significant individual care packages provided to residential carers, children in care are too often neglected, exploited or abused. Carers often lack the skills and the capacity to keep children safe and supported. Too many children leave care in poor health, without education or future prospects and deeply traumatised. Evidence shows that First Nations kids in care are regularly criminalised for behaviour that would not involve the youth justice system if it happened in a white family home. The most recent SNAICC Family matters report detailed exit pathways from out-of-home care and the failure to ensure kids leaving care can thrive. Too many kids age out of care without clear support. Many experience disconnection, poor mental health, homelessness or detention, and the cycle continues.

All of this is to say that the National Commissioner for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and Young People has their work cut out for them. The commissioner's functions include promoting the rights and improving the safety and wellbeing of First Nations kids; building on their strengths and creating the conditions for them to thrive; identifying systemic issues and barriers; advising government; and driving greater accountability for the impact of government policies, programs and services. This could be a powerful and catalytic role, giving First Nations peoples a voice and forcing systemic issues into the spotlight.

I met with Commissioner Sue-Anne Hunter last month. Her passion and ambition for the role, and her commitment to addressing priority issues for First Nations youth, were very clear. She brings years of experience and dedication to the enormous task ahead of her. Our concern is not with the commissioner's dedication but with the government's. Despite the wishes of 70 organisations who called for the national commission, the bill doesn't provide the commissioner with powers to investigate and determine complaints from First Nations youth. This is a huge missed opportunity. The bill also allows the commissioner to seek information from governments to inform her reports and recommendations, but the only thing compelling governments to comply with those requests is the threat that they will be named in the commissioner's annual report if they do not. Shame has not been enough for governments in the past.

At the Senate inquiry into youth justice last year, children's commissioners from around the country expressed their collective frustration that the governments they advised had failed to change. The Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children's Commissioner, the inimitable Natalie Lewis, spoke about the hyperincarceration of First Nations young people, who have long been politicised by kneejerk policies rather than supported by community led transformational change. She said:

What will it take for the Commonwealth to intervene in state and territory youth justice systems? Is the torture of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children the standard to compel Commonwealth intervention, as we witnessed with the Don Dale Youth Detention Centre? Is the removal of detention as a last resort and the introduction of 20-year mandatory minimum sentences in Queensland's legislation grounds for Commonwealth government intervention?

Ms Zoe Robinson, the NSW Advocate for Children and Young People, urged the government not just to listen but to act. She said:

We have all the evidence we need to know that what we are doing right now is not the solution. … Each state and territory is taking a different approach, but it is clear that none of these have the safety, wellbeing and best interests of children and young people at heart. In the words of a child incarcerated who I sat with, 'The only way you get heard is to yell and scream.' So here we are as commissioners, guardians and advocates for all the children across this country, yelling and screaming—figuratively of course—on behalf of all children incarcerated.

The government must listen to these screams for action. As Ms Lewis says:

Agreements without meaningful action and without accountability for inaction are nothing more than an exercise in appeasement.

When stakeholders called for a national commissioner, it was not just to keep overseeing business as usual. The role is needed because successive governments have failed to do enough—or, in some cases, failed to do anything at all—on key issues affecting the health and wellbeing of First Nations kids. SNAICC CEO Catherine Liddle said the national commissioner can be 'a true accountability mechanism to ensure governments follow through on their commitments to our children and families.' We know the government won't do that on its own. Without an obligation to act, the risk is that they hide behind reports and don't change anything at all. Reports without action do not keep children out of prison or out of care.

The Greens have proposed an amendment to the bill to hold the government accountable for its action. The amendment will require the government to formally respond to any recommendations made by the national commissioner. We understand that the government will not support that amendment. When we asked the government why it would not support a requirement to respond to recommendations—

Paul Scarr (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Excuse me, Senator Waters. I hate to interrupt you, but you will be in continuation. It now being 1:30 pm, we shall move to two-minute statements.