SNAICC 2026-27 Pre-Budget Submission to the Australian Government

Executive Summary

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities have cared for children for thousands of generations, grounded in cultural knowledge and strengths essential for wellbeing. Despite these strengths, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children remain disproportionately affected by vulnerability, as shown by over-representation in child protection and youth justice systems and persistent gaps in health and education outcomes.

These inequities stem from the ongoing impacts of colonisation, which compound across social determinants of health and wellbeing. Protecting and promoting the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children is critical for sustaining the world’s oldest living cultures and building a fair and just society where all children have the opportunity to thrive.

While governments have committed to change through the National Agreement on Closing the Gap and Safe and Supported: The National Framework for Protecting Australia’s Children, progress remains slow. The Productivity Commission’s review confirms that governments are not delivering the systemic reforms needed to achieve meaningful outcomes (Productivity Commission, 2024).

SNAICC calls on the Australian Government to accelerate action by investing in policy reform, programs, and structural change that enable Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and families to thrive. These proposals also help alleviate cost-of-living pressures by increasing access to services, reducing childcare costs, and creating employment opportunities in education and social services.

SNAICC is calling for the Australian Government to invest in the following initiatives in its upcoming Budget:

1. Safety and Wellbeing:

1.1 Resourcing and implementing Safe and Supported: The National Framework for Protecting Australia’s Children.

1.2 National ACCO prevention and early support program funding.

2. Early Years:

2.1 Implementation of a dedicated funding model for ACCO integrated early years services.

2.2 National expansion of SNAICC’s Early Years Support (EYS) program.

2.3 Expansion of the Connected Beginnings program.

2.4 Development of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander early years workforce.

2.5 Strengthened access to quality early learning through Building Early Education Fund (BEEF).

2.6 Implementing a Nest and Nurture model to expand the number of ACCO early years services.

2.7 Funding a national expansion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander playgroups.

The submission’s proposals cover a wide range of initiatives, with particular focus on growing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community-controlled supports that advance children’s and families’ rights, safety, wellbeing and development. The submission calls for new investment to help deliver on the promise of Safe and Supported to transform child protection systems with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander self-determination at the centre, a $800 million four-year investment in early support for families to prevent child protection removals, implementing an early years funding model that reflects the holistic supports ACCOs have provided for decades, and ongoing funding to continue and expand SNAICC’s Early Years Support program. Additionally, there are calls to continue and expand a number of ACCO-led government-funded programs, including Connected Beginnings, IMR and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Playgroups, with a particular emphasis on supporting and growing the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander workforce that is best placed to deliver them.