Submission to the Queensland Child Safety Commission of Inquiry

March 2026

Overview of the Submission

The over-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in out-of-home care in Queensland, and across Australia, is well documented and deeply concerning. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children are significantly more likely to be removed from their families, to enter the system at a younger age and to experience longer and more intensive involvement with the child protection system.

This submission to the Queensland Child Safety Commission of Inquiry sets out a clear, evidence-based case for urgent and systemic reform of Queensland’s child protection system for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and families.

SNAICC is particularly concerned by the growing reliance on residential care, especially for younger children. Evidence consistently shows that residential care is associated with poorer outcomes, including placement instability, disconnection from family, kin and culture and a significantly increased likelihood of contact with the youth justice system.

Over-representation is driven by ongoing systemic inequities, the impacts of colonisation, intergenerational trauma and dispossession and a failure to invest in culturally safe, community-led early supports that keep families strong. The submission outlines that Queensland already has the policy, legislative and strategic frameworks required to achieve reform. These include the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Placement Principle, Our Way: A generational strategy for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and families 2017–2037 and national commitments under the National Agreement on Closing the Gap and Safe and Supported.

Therefore, the issue is not a lack of evidence or direction. The core challenge is the persistent gap between commitment and implementation, particularly in relation to investment, accountability and the transfer of decision-making authority and resources to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.

This submission makes clear that real reform requires a fundamental shift in how the system operates. This includes:

• full and accountable implementation of existing frameworks and legal obligations,
• genuine shared decision-making and the transfer of authority to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community-controlled organisations,
• sustained and targeted investment in prevention, early intervention and family support,
• reducing reliance on residential care and eliminating pathways into the youth justice system, and
• embedding cultural authority, data sovereignty and community-led oversight across all levels of the system.

Key recommendations

This submission makes 13 recommendations to the Queensland Child Safety Commission of Inquiry, including calls to:

• compare current child protection practice against existing legal, policy, cultural and human rights obligations,
• address the systemic, operational and cultural barriers preventing full implementation of current commitments,
• urgently review, strengthen and fully implement Our Way: A generational strategy for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and families 2017–2037,
• ensure full, consistent and accountable implementation of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Placement Principle,
• establish an independent Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and Young People’s Commissioner in Queensland,
• address the underlying drivers of the high number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in residential care, particularly children under 12,
• increase funding and resource transfer to ACCOs, including urgently reassigning resources from for-profit providers,
• prioritise prevention and earlier intervention for children and families,
• reject adoption as a permanency pathway for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, other than Torres Strait Islander customary adoption,
• address the child protection-to-youth justice pipeline through integrated system reform,
• examine current funding models and increase investment in prevention and early intervention,
• endorse and implement the National Child and Family Investment Strategy, including a clear plan for transferring resources to ACCOs, and
• accelerate the statewide roll-out of delegated authority, supported by ACCO access to relevant departmental systems and information.

Queensland does not need new principles to guide reform. The pathway forward is already known. What is required is decisive action to implement these commitments in full, grounded in self-determination, cultural safety and the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children to grow up safe, strong and connected to family, community, culture and Country.