The Australian Human Rights Commission’s national children’s commissioner, Anne Hollonds, has called on the federal government to create a minister for children to help fight against problems in the sector of child welfare services.
Speaking to ABC Radio National’s Breakfast programme on Feb. 13, Hollonds said that she believed the reason Australia was struggling to handle issues like youth justice is that there is currently no coordinated effort across the government portfolios.
“We have a very, very complex and fragmented policy and services landscape that is not fit for purpose,” she said.
“It just in bits and pieces all over the place. So I really think one of the reasons why we’re having difficulty getting traction on some of the most difficult problems like child protection, youth justice crises and so forth is that we’re not getting coordinated effort across the core portfolios of health, education, social services, Indigenous Australians, etc.”…