SNAICC in the News for the Week of 16 March

The week began with Catherine Liddle giving evidence to the Senate inquiry on youth justice, calling on the Commonwealth to take a leadership role in the development of a nationally coordinated action plan with the states and territories to urgently reform failing child justice systems and reorient the system away from carceral, punitive and inhumane responses, to responses which support children and families early.  

ABS crime data confirmed what the evidence has long shown: in 2023-24 the youth offending rate was falling, not rising. The fall in the recent ABS data has nothing to do with governments raising the age of criminal responsibility.  

And on Wednesday, the Productivity Commission released its latest Closing the Gap data, with targets for children continuing to go backwards and called on Commonwealth, state and territory governments to invest in ACCOs and the community-led sector.  

Here is a look at where the conversation has been, 14–20 March 2026. 

Youth Justice in Crisis: SNAICC calls for national standards 

The Senate inquiry into youth justice and incarceration drew national attention this week, with coverage spanning multiple states and territories. Catherine Liddle appeared before the Federal committee on Monday, as the National Indigenous Times reports. 

SNAICC’s position is clear: prevention and early intervention are what keep children and communities safe. Punitive approaches deepen trauma and drive reoffending.  

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children are incarcerated at more than 25 times the rate of non-Indigenous children. In Queensland and Victoria, children can face life imprisonment.  

These laws are working against every commitment governments have made under Closing the Gap. 

Catherine Liddle said: 

“We know early intervention to prevent child removal will prevent our children from entering youth justice systems.” 

Across the country disturbing trends on youth justice were revealed, with new figures from WA, Queensland and Tasmania revealing increased numbers of Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander youth in detention. All three articles mentioned SNAICCs evidence before the Senate. 

In Queensland, the National Indigenous Times reported on continued failings for vulnerable young people in child protection and youth justice. Earlier this year, we called out the Queensland Government for failing to report child protection data around Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children.  

In Tasmania, NIT reported on the distressingly high rates of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children locked up in a system that continues to fail them. 

Catherine Liddle said: 

“It is well within the responsibility and jurisdiction of the Commonwealth Government to change the way Australia’s incredibly expensive child protection and youth justice systems are funded to encourage policies like community-led prevention and early intervention services that keep children with their Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander kin.” 

Closing the Gap: Back What We Know Is Working 

This week the Productivity Commission released its updated Closing the Gap dashboard data. As SBS/NITV reports, only three targets are on track. Four are going backwards: suicide, incarceration, children’s early development and children in out-of-home care (OOHC).  

The National Indigenous Times covered the data in detail.  

The proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children assessed as developmentally on track across all five domains of the Australian Early Development Census has fallen to 33.9 per cent, down from 35.2 per cent in 2018. 

Progress on babies born with a healthy birthweight has also stalled, now showing no change from the 2019 baseline after previously being assessed as improving. 

The OOHC target has gone in the opposite direction. There has been progress in land rights and economic participation, but progress in some targets cannot mask failure in others. 

The solutions are not a mystery. They are already working on the ground. Catherine Liddle said: 

There is a wealth of programs that are working on the ground to close the gap for our children, yet government backing is haphazard and often short term.

“The Connected Beginnings and Early Years Support programs are evidence of community-based and controlled approaches that work yet support is inconsistent and insecure.

“We don’t need a new plan. We need governments to keep their word and fully implement the Priority Reforms, working in genuine partnership with our communities as the experts in our own lives.”

ABS Data Shows Youth Offending Is Falling, Not Rising

Catherine Liddle was interviewed by SBS following the release of ABS Recorded Crime data for 2023–24, which confirmed youth offending is on a downward trend nationally at the time.

This is significant because of the context at the time, Queensland, Northern Territory and Victoria all acted to lower the age of criminal responsibility and enact a range of ‘tough-on-crime’ policies.

Tough-on-crime policies enacted across the country in 2024 were justified by claims of a youth crime “crisis.” The data tells a different story. Governments went to elections promising harsher penalties for children, driven by media narratives rather than evidence.

Catherine Liddle said:

“In the short term, you might see a decrease because you’ve locked everybody up. What you can expect after that is an increase in offensive behaviours. And again, it shows the fundamental failing in approaches that say our only response to children and communities in distress is to lock them up.”

SNAICC’s position is also backed by research showing that tough-on-crime measures do not work when they fail to address the causes of crime.

Childcare Sector Calls on PM to Deliver Universal Access 

The Australian reported this week on a sector-wide call for the Prime Minister to set out a clear timeline for universal early childhood education and care. The Australian Greens also called on the Government to lift the maximum Child Care Subsidy to 100 per cent of the hourly rate cap for low-income families.  

SNAICC has long advocated for a universal ECEC system. The Three-Day Guarantee, which removed the activity test in January, was a significant step, but the current market-based funding model continues to fail communities in remote, regional and disadvantaged areas.  

We continue to call for greater investment in ACCO ECEC services that reflects their role in supporting children, families and communities far beyond childcare alone. 

Catherine Liddle said: 

“Access to ECEC services means our children are more likely to be developmentally ready for big school and they are more likely to access allied health and NDIS supports needed for them to thrive in life.”