SNAICC is terribly saddened to learn of the tragic situation in Tennant Creek, and our thoughts are with the child, her family and community.
A family’s love for their child is just so immense. I think that transcends race and culture; it’s something that we can all identify with. When a child is harmed it is felt by the whole community.”
– Sharron Williams, SNAICC Chairperson
Every child deserves to grow up in a safe environment, and more must be done to ensure families and communities are supported with adequate services to prioritise the safety, development and wellbeing of children. Our governments and communities must work together to address issues – including inter-generational trauma, violence, substance misuse and poverty – that threaten the safety of our children.
While the vast majority of our children are living with their families in safe environments, we must also acknowledge that this is not an isolated incident, and it points to a flawed system that is failing our communities, and, most importantly, is so devastatingly failing our children.”
– Sharron Williams, SNAICC Chairperson
We have a shared responsibility to ensure the rights of every Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander child to be safe and thrive in their family, community and culture.
To achieve this, the current Closing the Gap targets should be expanded to:
- ensure our children’s safety by including an additional target to eliminate the over-representation of our children in out-of-home care by 2040, and sub-targets that address the underlying causes of child protection intervention; and
- foster our children’s wellbeing and development by strengthening the current target on education to eliminate the under-representation of our 0 to 5-year-old children in early childhood education and care services by 2040.
