As part of the funding injection for remote communities in the Northern Territory, the government will focus on family safety and child development.
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00:00I think there's no other way to describe it than a very, very welcome announcement.
00:06When you look at that package, everything that you need to ensure that children, families
00:11and communities are safe are embedded in it.
00:13That's talking about action right now.
00:16Obviously, we're still yet to see the detail.
00:19But what we do know in that commitment is a commitment to potentially 12 new child and
00:24family centres.
00:26That is incredible because what we know when we're talking about closing the gap is that
00:29closing the gap starts with our children.
00:32This is the best place to invest.
00:34And it's something we have been calling for for a long time.
00:37So well done to everyone that was involved in negotiating this one.
00:41It is delivering funding, extra funding for many community based organisations whose agreements
00:47were actually set to end.
00:50Was that the case for some of the services supporting First Nations children?
00:54Look, this is what we, I don't have the detail to be perfectly honest.
00:58And what we know is there hasn't been the scale and level of investment into early childhood
01:03education and care in remote communities to date.
01:07So that's why the investment in the child and family centres is so important, because
01:11we know that if you want to make a difference on the communities, the fastest way to do
01:15that is to ensure that children are able to access that vital start in life like children
01:20in any other centre can.
01:22So this is really fundamental.
01:24And again, it complements all those other pieces of expenditure that the federal government
01:29has committed to.
01:31So things like investments in jobs, there is no point in investing in the jobs if there
01:35is no access to early education and care.
01:39There's no point in investing in schools if children haven't had the opportunity to get
01:43the support that they need so that they're developmentally ready, so that the families
01:47know what they need, and so that you're actually able to walk into big school and thrive.
01:51So what we're looking at in that package is incredibly comprehensive.
01:54I guess the pieces of detail that someone like myself will be looking for will be, is
01:59it genuinely community controlled?
02:01And I suspect we saw APON sitting there.
02:03I suspect that it is.
02:04Why community controlled?
02:06Because community control talks to a thing called self determination.
02:09Now that word is a bit confusing sometimes.
02:12Basically what it means is that people are able to make choices for themselves and determine
02:16what their services look like so that they actually fit the environment they're in.
02:20And these are things, again, that we might take for granted in other areas like cities
02:26and towns.
02:27Yeah, and you've pointed to this funding for the 12 children and family centres, which
02:33will be Aboriginal community controlled, according to the government.
02:38We don't have the detail, as you say, but, you know, with a wish list, I mean, what are
02:41the big issues that you're hoping could be addressed through those kinds of services?
02:47Oh, goodness.
02:48So, child and family services, they are the ones that knit your communities together.
02:53And we've seen some incredible gains with some Commonwealth commitments over the past
02:58decade.
02:59So, Connected Beginnings is one of those.
03:00And Connected Beginnings essentially knits all the fabric together.
03:04But when you drill down into small communities, they often just have a child and family centre
03:09or an ECE service.
03:11And those services, again, knit the fabric of a community together because they look
03:15at what all the structures are that a family needs to be safe and a community needs to
03:20be safe.
03:21Where do you go if you need help?
03:22How do you bring that service in?
03:24How do you observe a child in its natural environment?
03:26Where do you go to feel safe and ask for additional support?
03:30But more importantly, when we're talking about children, what are the things children need
03:33between zero to five to ensure they are ready to go to big school?
03:38Because we know that children that can go to big school, children that have had access
03:41to this, they're the ones that don't need child protection.
03:44They're the ones that don't come into contact with the justice system.
03:48So, we know that when we're looking at numbers like this, while they might sound big, jeez,
03:52they are an efficient spend.
03:54And what do you think about the timing of this?
03:56I mean, we are in the lead up to a federal election now.
03:59We've got Closing the Gap stats being released on Monday.
04:03Are you worried that maybe those numbers won't be good?
04:06And that's why we're seeing this funding being splashed around now?
04:10Oh, look, what we know about early education and care and child protection, which are a
04:14largely the two pieces of work that Snake really speaks loudly to and says, put the
04:20funding in. I would have loved to have seen a commitment like this three years ago.
04:23I would have loved to have seen it six years ago.
04:25Imagine what the world would have looked like if we'd had it 10 years ago.
04:29The ability to respond to an entire ecosystem that children and families exist in.
04:36Do I hold out much hope about those stats?
04:38Look, we know that the investments have not come fast enough.
04:41We know that where they have, we're starting to see real traction.
04:45We know that where Aboriginal community controlled services have been at the forefront.
04:49We're starting to see the numbers shift.
04:51But what we know from the Productivity Commission review is the investment wasn't big
04:55enough. The change in government processes wasn't fast enough and efficient enough.
05:00So this is these are these are good things that we're seeing now, but we needed them a fair
05:05while ago. And but having said that, this is welcome and it needs to hit the ground and it
05:09needs to hit the ground fast.
05:11And I think that's what we need to do.
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05:32And I think that's what we need to do.