Submission to the Inquiry into Measuring Outcomes for First Nations Communities

Given that this Inquiry has cross-cutting implications for people with disability, SNAICC has worked closely with First Peoples Disability Network (FPDN) on this submission and its recommendations. We thank FPDN for providing its expertise in partnership to develop this submission.

As the Committee is aware, it is deeply concerning that Closing the Gap targets 4, 10, 12 and 14 are not only not on track, but are worsening. These outcomes are deeply interconnected, and the deterioration of one undoubtedly impacts the others. For example, children known to child protection are at increased risk of coming into contact with the youth justice system and experiencing poor mental health.

As the peak body for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in Australia, SNAICC’s work is particularly focused on Targets 4 and 12. The worsening of developmental outcomes (Target 4) means Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children are missing out on the opportunity to thrive in their early years and be set up for success in school and in adult life. The increasing over-representation rates for First Nations children in out-of-home care (Target 12) is indicative of failures to support families, and address the underlying drivers of child protection intervention which are rooted in historical and ongoing discrimination, dispossession and disempowerment.

Current systems disconnect children from kin, community, culture and Country. Rather than protecting children and supporting their families, child protection systems too often perpetuate intergenerational trauma and harm.

SNAICC wants to see every Aboriginal children and young person thrive and remain connected with their families with the support of culturally safe and integrated services in their early years, which draw on the strength and knowledge of Community. This submission focuses on the funding, measurement and barriers to progress associated with Targets 4 and 12 and the opportunities to reverse these trends to support these children to thrive.

Recommendations

To address the regression of Closing the Gap Targets 4 and 12, the Commonwealth Government should:

1. Fully fund and implement the Early Childhood Care and Development Sector Strengthening Plan, to ensure Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and families have access to the supports they need.
2. Commit to transition a target portion of funding for child and family services programs to ACCOs to enable Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families to access culturally safe services that meet their needs and prevent involvement with the child protection system (target/outcome 12). This funding target should be proportionate to the needs of First Nations children and families (around 30-40% of funding).1These targets could be developed and implemented as part of the Department of Social Services (DSS) Families and Children Activity Funding Review which is currently underway.
3. Support children to thrive in their early years through improving the accessibility of high quality and culturally responsive integrated health, education and care services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children by:
   1. Implementing a dedicated, needs-based, sustainable funding model for ACCOs delivering integrated early years services, as recommended in the Funding Model Options for ACCO Integrated Early Years Services Final Report.
   2. Working with the First Peoples Disability Network to increase funding and reduce barriers to culturally safe and responsive disability advocacy and support services and allied health services, to provide timely assessments, care and support to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families with disability, particularly children with learning disability and developmental delay. This includes resourcing the Disability Sector Strengthening Plan as a priority. Funding must be needs-based and prioritise community-controlled organisations while supporting mainstream organisations to embed cultural safety in regions with a lack of community-controlled services.
4. Reform measurement and evaluation of the socio-economic targets to improve the accuracy of insights and shift focus from deficits-based administrative data to holistic and strengths-based measures of wellbeing. Priority actions include:
   1. Expanding measurement of the Closing the Gap targets beyond the headline targets, including reporting on all the supporting indicators across the Priority Reforms and socio-economic outcomes.
   2. Working with the forthcoming Data Policy Partnership and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Centre for Excellence in Child and Family Support to embed Indigenous Data Sovereignty principles and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leadership in determining and implementing socio-economic measures that engage with unique wellbeing indicators for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, particularly connection to culture, Country and kin.
   3. Establishing an Independent Indigenous Data Agency, to respond to recommendations to improve the implementation of Priority Reform Four (improve data and information sharing).
   4. Change the definition and measurement rules of out-of-home care under Closing the Gap to include children on permanent care orders to more accurately reflect progress (or lack thereof) against Target 12, aligning with SNAICC’s definition as applied in the annual Family Matters Report.
5. Build a better understanding of how policy and funding decisions are driving the overrepresentation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in care, and opportunities for governments to address this, by:
   1. Implementing the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Placement Principle to the standard of Active Efforts and reporting on all agreed indicators, as part of fully implementing Action 5 of the Safe and Supported Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander First Action Plan 2023-2026.
   2. Implementing national reporting as part of the Report on Government Services on the proportion of child protection, early childhood education and care and family services expenditure provided to ACCOs.
6. Build their capacity to work in genuine partnership and prioritise transformation of government agencies in alignment with the findings and recommendations of the Productivity Commission’s Review of the National Agreement on Closing the Gap (the National Agreement). This includes:
7. 1. Developing a system of clear accountability mechanisms and measures for government agencies and mainstream organisations that do not comply with their responsibilities under the National Agreement.
   2. Better coordinate reform across Commonwealth, state and territory government departments to progress the Closing the Gap outcomes and increase resourcing to the Coalition of Peaks to support and advise on this work.