SNAICC in the News

24–31 July 2026

This week’s release of the Closing the Gap data shows what can be achieved when governments invest early and work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. The data reveals that the national preschool enrolment target has been met. But children’s development, out-of-home care and youth justice outcomes are worsening or have stalled. 

SNAICC released research demonstrating how governments can fund Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations (ACCOs) differently to keep families together.  

Continued coverage of the fallout following the Northern Territory Government’s passing of child protection laws. 

And as National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children’s Day approaches, communities are preparing to celebrate our children under the 2026 theme, Living Our Truth. 

Here is a look at where the conversation has been, 24–31 July 2026.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that this edition of SNAICC in the News contains the name and image of Kumanjayi Little Baby, and links to coverage of someone who has died.

Preschool Milestone Shows What Is Possible, but Children’s Outcomes Are Going Backwards 

The latest Closing the Gap data showed the national preschool enrolment target has been met, but most other targets are stalling or going backwards. The findings and our response were covered by the National Indigenous Times, EducationHQ, First Nations News, SBS News and ABC radio and television nationally. 

In her response, reported by the National Indigenous Times and EducationHQ, SNAICC CEO Catherine Liddle welcomed the preschool result: 

“Meeting the Closing the Gap preschool enrolment target is a milestone worth celebrating and is further indication that when early education becomes more accessible, our families eagerly take it up.” 

But she said the data told two very different stories: 

“It shows what’s possible when governments invest in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children early, but it also shows the devastating cost of failing to carry that investment in developmental outcomes, school readiness and through the rest of childhood.” 

More than 95 per cent of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children are now enrolled in preschool in the year before school, up from 61.3 per cent in 2016. But of the 19 targets, only three others are on track, while adult imprisonment, children’s development, out-of-home care and suicide are going backwards. 

Catherine said enrolment on its own was not enough, and that too many children were still being caught up in systems that harm them: 

“One success cannot mask the reality that too many of our children are still entering out-of-home care and too many young people are still being caught up in the justice system.” 

The out-of-home care figures underline the point. The rate of our children in care has risen to 52.2 per 1,000, 11.5 times the rate for non-Indigenous children, while only 33.9 per cent were developmentally on track when they started school in 2024. 

On ABC News Mornings, Catherine said these outcomes could all be addressed by getting in sooner, not by building more jails. She said poverty was the driver underneath all of it, and the fixes were basic: 

“You need a house to sleep in. You need clean clothes. You need a washing machine. You need to be able to put food on the table.” 

She said many children in detention had already been through the child protection system, and often returned within months, with children now able to be detained from as young as 10. Her message to government was simple: 

“Invest sooner. Invest in children. Invest in families. Invest in communities, and take them on the path with you.” 

Catherine’s response also aired across ABC radio nationally, including The World Today, and was carried further in an AAP story by Robyn Wuth and Lucinda Garbutt-Young that appeared in First Nations News, The Canberra Times and regional mastheads across New South Wales, Victoria, Western Australia and the Northern Territory. 

On the child removal figures, Catherine was blunt: 

“We cannot remove our way to better outcomes for children.” 

We are calling for sustained investment in Aboriginal community-controlled early intervention and family support that keeps children safe at home and connected to kin, culture and community, and for the same ambition further along a child’s journey, in youth justice and beyond. Catherine said the report carried a clear message for governments: 

“This report is both a proof point and a warning. When governments partner with Aboriginal community-controlled organisations, children thrive. When they don’t, the consequences are written across the targets that continue to stall and worsen and felt every day in the lives of our children and families.”

Learn more about our Closing the Gap advocacy 

Explore our early childhood development work 

Governments Must Fund ACCOs Differently to Keep Families Together 

New SNAICC research sets out a practical model for funding Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations that deliver child and family services, as the West Australian and National Indigenous Times reported. 

The report, Doing Things Differently: Funding ACCOs to keep families together, proposes guaranteed baseline funding for every ACCO. That baseline would be topped up by needs-based funding reflecting community size, location, costs and local need. 

Current funding systems are built around mainstream organisations. Short contracts, rigid rules, red tape and chronic underinvestment limit the holistic, culturally safe support ACCOs can provide. 

Speaking to the National Indigenous Times, SNAICC CEO Catherine Liddle said: 

“Current funding systems continue to be designed for mainstream organisations.” 

She said this mismatch stops governments investing in families where it counts, at the scale required. ACCOs are not simply alternative providers, they are trusted community institutions with the relationships, knowledge and cultural authority to support families before problems become crises. 

SNAICC CEO Catherine Liddle said the report gave governments an immediate, practical path to reform: 

“If governments are serious about Closing the Gap, they cannot keep funding the same systems and expect different results.” 

“They are wasting money and continuing to damage our children and families.” 

Meanwhile, on Koori Radio’s Blackchat, Lola Forrester gave the report a deadly shout out and highlighted the report’s findings. She also reiterated SNAICC CEO Catherine Liddle’s warning that the overrepresentation of Aboriginal Torres Strait Islander children in child protection continues to move in the wrong direction.  

Download Doing Things Differently: Funding ACCOs to keep families together 

Learn more about our work on sector transformation 

Every Child Matters Fallout: Resignations and National Criticism Continue 

The Northern Territory Government’s child protection changes continues to draw media coverage. With continued coverage of the NT government’s rejection of expert advice, the resignations of Aboriginal leaders, and the system failures found after the death of Kumanjayi Little Baby. 

EducationHQ examined the national opposition to the changes, drawing on SNAICC CEO Catherine Liddle’s ABC Radio interview.  

Catherine was one of many experts who gave evidence during two days of public hearings last month. 

She said the government’s claim that all children would be treated equally under the Bill was a distraction: 

“The truth of it is, legislation in and of itself can’t change the world, but what it can do is get you on the front page of a paper, it can make you look like you’re doing something when you’re not doing anything.” 

She said ignoring the evidence of advocates with lived experience was cruel: 

“You can’t pretend to care about the safety of children when you ignore the evidence about what keeps children safe.” 

“This legislation effectively erodes protections that were put in place because Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in the child protection system suffer greatly, and that harm is lifelong.” 

“It is unforgivable to make decisions that you know will unfairly impact and damage children for the rest of their lives.” 

In The West Australian, Dechlan Brennan reported that the laws passed despite the inquiry receiving 150 submissions. 

The overwhelming majority called for the Bill to be abandoned or substantially changed. 

Catherine, a proud Territorian, said she felt deeply ashamed of how the government was treating vulnerable children and families: 

“We all agree that children do best when they grow up with family, loved and safe, knowing who they are and where they belong.” 

The story also carried criticism from National Commissioner Sue-Anne Hunter, Independent MLA Yiŋiya Guyula, Minister for Indigenous Australians Malarndirri McCarthy and Member for Lingiari Marion Scrymgour. 

Speaking to Shelly Ware in the Koori Mail, Catherine said the NT Government had: 

“Chosen politics over the safety and wellbeing of children.” 

The Koori Mail also covered the findings of a report into the failings of the child protection services, highlighting that the laws the NT Government has used Kumanjayi Little Baby’s death to justify the changes, CEO Catherine Liddle’s said: 

“I don’t know how you respond to that, except to say it makes you viscerally sick.” 

“What the review shows is that Kumanjayi Little Baby’s family was failed by a child protection system that continues to fail too many Aboriginal children. It needs to be clearly understood that this is not about her family, it’s about broader system failures.” 

Governments must invest in prevention, early intervention, housing, family preservation, Aboriginal Family-Led Decision Making and ACCOs. 

Reform must be Aboriginal-led, evidence-based and built in genuine partnership with children, families, communities and frontline organisations.

Learn more about the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Placement Principle 

Read our submission on the Every Child Matters Bill 

2026 Children’s Day is next week 

Ahead of National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children’s Day, NACCHO launched In Our Words, inviting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children to share artwork and words about growing up strong. 

The initiative shares children’s stories and artwork on postcards, so children are heard, recognised and celebrated. 

Led by SNAICC since 1988, National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children’s Day falls on Tuesday 4 August. 

The 2026 theme, Living Our Truth, honours truth-telling, the sharing of knowledge across generations, and the right of our children and communities to tell their own stories. 

Across the country, communities, ACCOs, early learning services and schools are preparing celebrations that reflect local cultures, languages and knowledge. 

Children’s Day is a chance for all Australians to recognise the strength of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, and the role of family, community, culture and Country in helping them grow up safe, strong and proud. 

Download Children’s Day resources 

Find a Children’s Day event