00:00Well what we're hearing in the media today about Victoria really is just a
00:09glimpse into what I think is could be called a national child safety and
00:14well-being crisis because it's not just in the childcare sector which of course
00:20itself is massive right across the country but it's also beyond the
00:25childcare sector really into every area where you find vulnerable children and
00:31I'll use as an example the the child protection systems which in every state
00:36and territory are really in a chronic state of crisis and that's been
00:42officially admitted by many ministers in those jurisdictions so these systems and
00:48also the health and education systems that should be picking up problems early
00:53on there they're very fragmented and they're often unable to address the
00:57needs of these children and I think the truth is Ros that child safety and
01:02well-being has not had the priority that other issues have had for example there
01:09are good reasons why we have cabinet ministers for women there are good
01:13reasons why women and women's safety is a priority for national cabinet and we get
01:19women's budget statements every year we have none of these accountability
01:24mechanisms for children and that helps to explain I think why decades of
01:30recommendations from royal commissions and inquiries have not been acted on yet
01:35several investigations are ongoing you've identified systems being
01:39fragmented as part of the problem why aren't agencies talking to each other why
01:44aren't they connected and liaising do you think there's a sense of
01:47protectiveness about each department or is it bureaucracy that's simply getting in
01:52the way I think there's a lot of bureaucracy that gets in the way but when
01:57you look at even what we've heard in the media from the ABC reporting about
02:02there are many different parts in the system that all have a particular slice of
02:08the problem and it really leaves open the opportunity for potential points of
02:14failure multiple points of failure and it does require really good communication
02:19between those sections but the other thing is that and you know without an
02:24overall view of what's going on every every part of the system only sees a slice so
02:32we're not getting the full picture we're not getting the the historical patterns and
02:36we're missing very very important information and learning to be able to
02:41improve the system over time I'm hoping that the review that's reporting
02:45tomorrow from Victoria will really highlight the those points of failure in
02:51the current system so those are the failures how easy will it be to fix the
02:55problems and make sure that agencies do talk to each other that there is a
02:59oversight and that potential predators can't fall through the cracks well I think we
03:05need to streamline and maybe consolidate some of those bits so not have so many
03:10parts but also we need to really look at the how we strengthen the regulator you
03:16know it's it's being revealed that regulation and that that underlying
03:20scaffolding that's meant to be keeping children safe is incredibly weak and and we
03:26need to look at how we're screening and recruiting to ensure that we get the
03:32right people there caring for our children and we heard a little earlier from our reporter Alex
03:37Lewis who's been at the New South Wales parliamentary inquiry today where a senior
03:42police officer has said that some child care centers are reluctant to report abuse over fears for
03:49their reputation fears about their jobs so is there a sense that not everyone is
03:54pulling together on this well I think that really illustrates that we have not had as
04:00our primary goal the safety and well-being of children there are you know
04:06conflicting needs that come into it the running of the business the reputation of
04:10the business and protecting adults and their employment you know we have we have
04:17regulations that you know restrict how much information we can be sharing that could be
04:25useful to protecting children all of that needs to be looked at Ros and I'm really
04:30hoping that the various reviews that are underway now will enable us to get on with
04:35fixing what are very very serious problems in this sector but also beyond the
04:41child care sector and how forceful are you as children's commissioner prepared to be
04:46to ensure that changes are made well you know I don't have the power to fix this
04:54but I what I try and do is raise the issues for example those evidence-based
05:00recommendations from decades ago raised them with governments repeatedly and
05:06asking for that accountability for action but what unless we have a point of
05:11accountability unless we have a cabinet minister for children unless child safety and
05:16well-being actually is a priority at national cabinet it's very limited what
05:21anyone can do to achieve the changes that we need that it will help us all to
05:26feel more confident that we've got the right things in place to protect our
05:31children and particularly the most vulnerable children
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