A National Children’s Commissioner: Discussion Paper

A response from Early Childhood Australia

Early Childhood Australia supports the establishment of a National Children’s Commissioner to promote and protect the rights, wellbeing and development of children at a systemic national level. ECA applauds this next step by the Commonwealth Government towards establishing such a position. Early Childhood Australia (ECA) understands that this consultation will be informed by work done to date in regard to this question including submissions made earlier in 2011 in response to the draft legislation entitled Commonwealth Commissioner for Children and Young People Bill 2010. ECA responded to that legislation. Our position, on some of the issues on which this round of consultations asks for input, are contained in our submission to that enquiry.

• The issues ECA commented on specifically in that submission were:
• The entitlement of children to be consulted
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children including need to embed a commitment to reconciliation in the role of the Commissioner of Children
• The need for a definition of the best interests of the child
• The independence of the commissioner the National Children’s Commissioner including through
the requirement that this office reports directly to the national parliament
• The requirement that in its deliberations the National Children’s Commissioner consult with non-government agencies with knowledge and expertise in areas under consideration.

Who should a National Children’s Commissioner represent? ECA believes the remit of a National Children’s Commissioner should include all Australian children and other children who are resident in Australia. A mandate which restricts the role to a focus on specific groups only would preempt the National Children’s Commissioners engagement with important issues that affect all children.

At the same time a commitment to more equal outcomes for children in Australia requires concurrent commitment to the principle of equity. For this reason ECA supports the view that the National Children’s Commissioner should also have a focus on specific groups of children.

ECA is concerned that the National Children’s Commissioner’s focus on specific groups should not be fully preempted when the position is established. ECA believes that it is not possible to know in advance which groups of children may be jeapordised for one reason or another in the society at any particular time into the future. For this reason ECA believes that the capacity of a National Children’s Commissioner to be responsive to emerging issues for vulnerable children needs to be specified.

ECA’s proposal that the National Children’s Commissioner have a particular and ongoing focus on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children goes beyond their claim to this simply because they are amongst the most disadvantaged children in Australia.

It derives from the recognition of the impact on these children and their families of the original colonisation of Australia and the dispossession and loss of country for these people that were part of this. A direct outcome of this were the early policies, that continued into the recent past, which separated Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander children from their families and which have had long term negative consequences for these children and families. This set of circumstances leaves Australia as a nation with a non-negotiable obligation for reconciliation with these children and families which is unique to this group of Australians and must be acted out in roles such as the National Children’s Commissioner.

What ECA believes therefore is that the role of the National Commissioner for Children should include:

• A broad focus on all children;
• A specific requirement to focus on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children to support reconciliation
• A specific requirement to focus on the most vulnerable groups of children which at present would also include Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and children in need of care and protection and children who are refugees and
• A provision to respond to emerging issues in regard to vulnerable group of children.

Working with States and Territories

ECA believes that it is fundamental to the effectiveness of the role of the National Commissioner for Children that there are strong arrangements for collaboration with state and territory children’s commissioners. This is not simply about avoiding duplication and overlaps which is clearly important. Rather it is about the development of a national approach to some issues which leverages knowledge and experience across all jurisdictions.

Whilst not suggesting the model of the European Network of Ombudspersons for Children (ENOC) as a model ENOC does show the potential of a formal structure through which national and jurisdictional Commissioners for Children can work together.

Information on the ENOC websites tells us that:

The European Network of Ombudspersons for Children (ENOC) links independent offices which have been established in European countries to promote children's fundamental rights. Cooperation among these offices is intended to facilitate the sharing of strategies and collective approaches to promoting children’s rights. The aims of the Network are to improve the lives of all children in Europe in ways which include:

• encouraging the fullest possible implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child;
• supporting individual and collective lobbying for children's rights and interests to Europe-wide and international bodies (eg the European Union, Council of Europe and its European Strategy for Children, Committee on the Rights of the Child);
• sharing information, approaches and strategies for the benefit of children, including comparative studies;
• providing a forum for individual offices to generate new ideas and gain support;
• promoting and supporting the development of effective offices able to advocate independently for children.

http://www.crin.org/enoc/whatwedo/index.asp

ECA would strongly support a formal structure of this kind to bring together the efforts of Children’s Commissioners in all jurisdictions in focusing on the best interests of children. Whilst it would not necessarily mirror the way ENOC had developed it would provide a unique opportunity for a systematic, national focus on these issues.

ECA also believes that the National Children’s Commissioner should be charged with the obligation of negotiating such formal arrangements. ECA is aware that there will be jurisdictional issues to be resolved in doing this and understands that this would be the work of the Government.

Promoting public education and community awareness

ECA would support a strong role for the National Commissioner for Children in promoting public education and community awareness about the rights, wellbeing and development of children in Australia. Doing this well will mean work on a range of different levels. It needs a strategy which is ongoing, long-term and scoped so that it is focused and leverages tools that are effective with the various audiences it is trying to influence. A key audience for this work must be parents and the general community. Any effective approach to public education and community awareness raising will need a real understanding of where parents and the community get their information and who they see as having authority and credibility. That is who they will listen to and believe. Some of the tools to be used include:

• Public reporting on all of its work including research, inquiries, government remits etc
• Public inquiries
• Social media
• Public media campaigns
• Schools and early childhood education and care services
• Non government agencies, organisations, systems and networks.

Regards,
Pam Cahir
CEO
Early Childhood Australia
19 December 2011