A wrap of the important issues in the news this week: SNAICC, with the Allies for Children and the First Nations NGO Alliance held a parliamentary briefing on Target 12 at Parliament House calling on urgent reform and progress to address the overrepresentation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children in out-of-home care. Landmark legislation passes the Senate to empower the National Commissioner for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and Young People. And finally, we saw the launch of Our Ways, Strong Together, a new national peak body to address Family and Domestic Violence.
Here is a look at where the conversation has been, 24–27 March 2026.
Allies for Children United on progress for Target 12
A coalition of child and family services organisations gathered at Parliament House with SNAICC and the First Nations NGO Alliance to invest in ACCOs and transition care, decision making of cases the community-controlled sector so that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children are safely supported and connected to their families, communities and culture.
Speaking to NITV, Catherine Liddle spoke about why the transition to community-controlled services matters:
“It’s really simple. You want results? Mob know mob.”
NITV, the National Indigenous Times and First Nations News all covered the event, which called on other mainstream organisations to join the movement and make commitments that contribute to achieving Target 12. The event heard from those with lived experience of the OOHC system and coincided with Transformation Principles to support mainstream organisations to shift child protection services to ACCOs, strengthen community-controlled capacity and align systems with Closing the Gap commitments.
According to the most recent Productivity Commission data, more than half of the approximately 23,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children currently in out-of-home care, are placed with non-Indigenous mainstream organisations.
With just five years remaining to meet Closing the Gap Target 12, which seeks to reduce the rate of our children in out-of-home care by 45 per cent by 2031, progress has stalled nationally. In some jurisdictions, outcomes are worsening. Earlier this month, SNAICC called for a nationally coordinated plan to urgently reform failing child justice systems.
The evidence is clear: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children see better outcomes when connected to family, kin and community. Catherine Liddle said:
“The Allies for Children are not waiting for Government to take the lead to address the overrepresentation of our children in OOHC. It’s bold, it’s courageous and it’s necessary to see Target 12 achieved.”
“We need more organisations to do the right thing by the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in their care and start the journey to transition, that’s why we have launched our Transformation Principles Framework, to help drive structural change. To be truly transformative and change making, this transition needs to be effective and sustainable.”
Allies for Children represent around 15 per cent of child and family services nationally and are collectively responsible for the care of approximately 1,900 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children.
As a collective, and in partnership with Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations (ACCOs), they are working to return children to family, kin and community, and to shift resources and responsibility from mainstream services to community-controlled organisations.
As Catherine Liddle said when we released the Family Matters Report 2025 late last year:
Read our media release“If governments are serious about addressing over-representation, it would take one simple step: invest in ACCOs, not in systems that remove our children. The solutions exist, but they simply aren’t being resourced.”
Landmark Legislation Empowers National Commissioner to Hold Governments to Account
The National Commission for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and Young People Bill 2026 passed the Senate this week, as reported by the National Indigenous Times and NITV.
This legislation delivers on decades of advocacy from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and the community-controlled sector for a truly independent, legislated Commissioner.
The Bill establishes the National Commission as a permanent statutory agency, with powers to independently conduct inquiries into systemic issues, make recommendations to government and elevate the voices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people.
With Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children still 10 times more likely to be in out-of-home care, and the links between child protection and youth justice continuing to grow, the need for strong, independent oversight has never been more urgent.
This legislation aligns with a long-standing priority of the Family Matters campaign and with Safe and Supported: Australia’s 10-year national framework for child and family wellbeing.
Catherine Liddle said:
Read our media release“This is a moment we have fought for over many years. For decades, SNAICC and our partners have advocated for a National Commissioner with real powers. Someone who can stand independent of government and hold systems to account for the outcomes experienced by our children.
“By legislating this role, the National Commissioner now has the authority to safeguard commitments to our children and families, so they are delivered.”
Our Ways Strong Together: A New National Peak Body to Address Family Violence
The federal government and the Coalition of Peaks this week launched Our Ways Strong Together, a new Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander national peak body for family, domestic and sexual violence.
The National Indigenous Times and NITV both reported on the launch.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women are seven times more likely to be victims of intimate partner homicide and 27 times more likely to be hospitalised due to family violence than non-Indigenous women.
In regional and very remote areas, that figure rises to 41 times more likely.
The new peak body brings together Aboriginal community-controlled organisations, including specialist family, domestic and sexual violence services, legal and health services and peak bodies, under a national umbrella.
Our Ways Strong Together contributes to Closing the Gap Target 13, which seeks to reduce family violence and abuse against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and children by at least 50 per cent by 2031.
The launch follows the federal government’s $218.3 million investment in Our Ways – Strong Ways – Our Voices, the 10-year national plan to end family, domestic and sexual violence against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and children, which SNAICC helped develop.
The peak body will be led by Western Arrernte woman Olga Havnen. The interim board includes SNAICC Chair Muriel Bamblett AO, alongside Donnella Mills (interim chair), Wynetta Dewis and Lisa Charles.
Aunty Muriel Bamblett said family, domestic and sexual violence requires a coordinated national response, and that community-controlled services know what works.
As Catherine Liddle said when we welcomed the launch of the national plan earlier this year:
“A child protection system that responds after violence has occurred is not enough. Safety starts earlier, with family support, healing and culturally grounded programs that keep children connected to family and community.”
Read our media statement on Our Ways – Strong Ways – Our Voices.
Learn more about the planRe-elected Malinauskas government must prioritise reform
Last weekend’s South Australian election saw the Malinauskas-Labor government re-elected. SNAICC welcomed the reappointment of Kyam Maher as Aboriginal Affairs Minister, alongside Alice Rolls as Child Protection Minister and Lucy Hood as Education Minister in the second Malinauskas government but called on the re-elected government to prioritise the broken out-of-home care (OOHC) system.
As reported in NIT Aboriginal children make up just under 5.8 per cent of SA’s child population, but account for 39 per cent of children in OOHC.
Recent Closing the Gap data reveals that South Australia’s Aboriginal children are 10.6 times more likely to be removed from their families, and this rate is the second highest rate nationally.
Our CEO Catherine Liddle said:
Read our media release“We cannot keep pouring funding into a crisis-driven system that only reacts after a family has reached its breaking point”
“Data from the Family Matters report confirms the current reliance on crisis-driven support is unsustainable and continues to perpetuate inequity. A strategic shift in funding toward prevention and family preservation is essential to ensuring that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children remain safe and connected within their own communities”