SNAICC in the News | 4 September 2026

29 August–4 September 2026

SNAICC took the case for prevention to The Pub Test podcast this week. CEO Catherine Liddle told listeners that Australia’s child protection system does not work for any child, and that only 16 cents in every child protection dollar goes to family support.

SNAICC’s Family Matters 2025 research also anchored National Indigenous Times coverage of the AbSec Child & Family Conference. Aboriginal radio returned to the vacancy left by Queensland’s Commissioner for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children, and consultation opened on the next Safe and Supported Action Plans.

Here is a look at where the conversation has been, 29 August–4 September 2026.

A System That Works for No Child: Catherine Liddle on The Pub Test

SNAICC CEO Catherine Liddle joined The Pub Test in Melbourne, telling hosts Neil Pharaoh and Erin Watson that Australia’s child protection system does not work for any child.

The Pub Test is a politics podcast recorded in front of a live audience. Catherine Liddle was the guest for the second half of the episode.

She was asked whether the child protection system is working for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. She widened the question:

“The child protection system today doesn’t work for any child … There is no child that it genuinely works for.”

She then talked about where the money goes:

“Sixteen cents in every dollar in child protection actually goes to what children need, and that is strong families and strong communities. The rest of those dollars go to child removals.”

That figure comes from Family Matters 2025, which found that 15.6 per cent of national child protection spending goes to family support services.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children are ten times more likely to be removed from their families. Most of those removals happen before a child turns two.

She used New South Wales as an example. Child protection agencies there receive a notification about one in two Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children before they start primary school.

By the age of 14, that figure is about two in three.

She also spoke about the Northern Territory where one in three children in the care of the government there are significantly harmed.

The Every Child Matters legislation passed before a review found the department did not have the staff to support families when they needed it.

SNAICC gave evidence against that Bill and continues to warn that it weakens the Child Placement Principle.

Catherine Liddle described child protection as a political football, kicked from one end of the ground to the other:

“That is essentially what happens with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in politics. Each of those colours, either side, are using that football to score roars from a crowd.”

New laws and curfews win votes, she said, because they look like action.

Housing, food, shoes on children’s feet and schools children can get to do not make a compelling story:

“So why aren’t we finding a way to get governments to focus on the things that don’t get you votes and don’t get people screaming from the sidelines? Because that’s the hard work.”

SNAICC is calling on all governments to move child protection spending out of crisis response and into prevention and family support delivered by Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations (ACCOs).

Listen to The Pub Test.

Read the Family Matters Report 2025.

Aboriginal-Led Solutions Must Be Backed to Keep Children with Family

SNAICC’s Family Matters 2025 report was mentioned in National Indigenous Times coverage of the AbSec Child & Family Conference on Birpai Country, where more than 400 delegates gathered to discuss Aboriginal-led reform of child protection systems.

Our member organisation AbSec, the peak body for Aboriginal children and families in New South Wales, hosted the three-day conference in Port Macquarie.

In the National Indigenous Times coverage, AbSec chief executive John Leha described what current rates of removal represent:

“These are our babies. Our kids. Our nieces and nephews, our future leaders and Elders. What they represent is another Stolen Generation, unfolding in real time, in front of our eyes.”

The National Indigenous Times reported that New South Wales reunited just two per cent of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in out-of-home care or on third-party parental responsibility orders with family or original carers in 2022–23, compared with a national average of 7.3 per cent, citing Family Matters 2025.

Speaking at the conference, John Leha said the answers are already held in communities:

“Our communities know what keeps our children safe. We have strong Aboriginal organisations, growing evidence and solutions already working on the ground. The challenge now is whether governments are prepared to back those solutions with the authority, resources and accountability needed to make them work at scale.”

SNAICC is calling on governments to resource ACCOs to deliver prevention and family support, and to transfer real decision-making authority to communities.

Calls Continue to Fill Queensland’s Children’s Commissioner Role

Aboriginal radio stations across the country discussed the vacancy left by Queensland’s Commissioner for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children, with the National Indigenous Radio Service and Umeewarra Radio reported on SNAICC’s calls for the Queensland Government to fill the position urgently.

Natalie Lewis completed six years as Commissioner with the Queensland Family and Child Commission earlier this year. The position has remained vacant since.

In June, SNAICC CEO Catherine Liddle described what the vacancy costs Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in Queensland:

“Without that voice we have a massive, massive hole. So it is urgent that the government moves on this.”

“It is a massive hole, and a massive toll, at a time when the commissioner’s voice is vital.”

An independent Commissioner gives Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children a voice inside the system, scrutinises the decisions governments make and holds decision-makers to account. The role matters more while Queensland decides how to respond to this year’s Commission of Inquiry into child safety.

SNAICC continues to call on the Queensland Government to appoint a Commissioner for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children without further delay.

Read our earlier coverage in SNAICC in the News, 12 June 2026.

SNAICC Leads Consultation on the Next Safe and Supported Action Plan

The Sector reported that consultation is underway on the next Action Plans under Safe and Supported, with SNAICC and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Leadership Group leading a dedicated process to shape the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Second Action Plan.

The Second Action Plans will guide national action from 2027 to 2031.

The evidence for what that next phase must deliver is already in place, including the National Child and Family Investment Strategy, led by SNAICC, which commits governments to redirect funding towards early, culturally safe supports delivered by the community-controlled sector.

SNAICC wants the next Action Plan to turn those commitments into funded, accountable action, with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families, communities and organisations setting the priorities

Learn more about Safe and Supported. Submissions close on 30 September 2026.