Safe & Supported : The National framework for Protecting Australia’s Children 2021 – 2031 was released in December 2021 with no fanfare. In May 2022, the first of two five-year action plans designed to detail how the goals of Safe and Supported will be achieved, will be released.
The framework rightly acknowledges income support as key to supporting child safety.
Income support is the responsibility of the Australian government – a key area where significant, immediate improvements could be made. These cannot be duplicated in other areas of the service system. In order to uphold children’s right to material basics, we want to see the government commit to improvements to the social security system in the first action plan.
The framework of the mission is admirable, but it falls short in harnessing our children’s potential, and fails to consider the structural disadvantages many face. Instead, it reveals gaps in our understanding as a nation about the nature of poverty, how it is experienced, and how crises can exacerbate it.