The Council of Aboriginal Services Western Australia (CASWA) has backed the call from today’s Western Australian roundtable, convened by the National Commissioner for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and Young People, Sue-Anne Hunter, for the WA Government to legislate an independent Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children’s Commissioner with the powers to monitor and advance the rights of Aboriginal children across WA.
“CASWA supports the need for a dedicated Aboriginal Children’s Commissioner in Western Australia who has the power to initiate their own inquiries, compel documents and evidence from government agencies, receive and determine complaints from Aboriginal children in out-of-home care and in detention, and follow the causes of removal upstream into housing, family violence and justice,” CASWA Chairperson Chris Bin Kali said.
CASWA also supports the roundtable’s call for an independent peak body representing Aboriginal children and families across the State.
CASWA has long held that Aboriginal children and families in Western Australia need a dedicated, community-controlled voice. In October 2024, CASWA and the Noongar Family Safety and Wellbeing Council jointly proposed to the WA Government a statewide network of Aboriginal child and family safety organisations, built region by region, as the pathway to a statewide peak body. That proposal remains unfunded.
Child and family wellbeing is one of CASWA’s strategic priorities. CASWA supports sector-specific Aboriginal peak bodies working alongside its own role as the whole-of-sector peak for Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations.
Mr Bin Kali said the foundations for a children and families peak were already in place.
“There are at least 40 Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations in Western Australia already doing child and family work, from out-of-home care and family violence services to family support and early years programs, from the Kimberley to the Great Southern,” Mr Bin Kali said.
“Yet only a handful of these organisations are funded to provide out-of-home care services, and there is no dedicated peak body to bring their knowledge together and hold government to account.
“Queensland shows what is possible. Its Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander child protection peak brings together 38 community-controlled organisations. Western Australia’s children deserve the same.”
Aboriginal children make up 7.3 per cent of Western Australian children but 56 per cent of children in out-of-home care, according to SNAICC – National Voice for our Children.
The Family Matters Report 2025 found that Western Australia directs just 4.4 per cent of its child protection expenditure to family support and intensive family support services, the lowest of any state or territory, compared with a national average of 15.6 per cent and 27 per cent in Victoria.
“Too much of Western Australia’s child protection spending only arrives once a family has reached crisis point. The State needs to invest a far greater share in early intervention and family support, delivered by Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations, so that families get help early and children can stay safely at home. A dedicated peak body would give those organisations the voice to make that shift happen,” Mr Bin Kali said.
“Child protection is a complex and challenging issue, and we are not saying it is an easy fix. What we are saying is if achieving Closing the Gap targets on child protection is truly a priority, then all levels of government need to show clear leadership, and look towards strong policy, priority funding, and Aboriginal-led solutions.”
Mr Bin Kali said the roundtable’s call must be matched by resourcing.
“This cannot become another mothballed priority or unfunded promise. The 10-Year Roadmap to Reduce the Overrepresentation of Aboriginal Children in Out-of-Home Care was commissioned by government, built on extensive consultation with Aboriginal communities, and then shelved. Aboriginal children and families cannot afford for that to happen again,” he said.
“Aboriginal communities have told government what needs to change many times. A peak body is how that authority becomes permanent, rather than depending on the next round of consultation,” Mr Bin Kali said.
CASWA is ready to support the development of an Aboriginal children and families peak body, and to ensure it is Aboriginal-led from the very beginning.
Ends
MEDIA CONTACT
Council of Aboriginal Services WA
Nicole Cox – 0419 941 443
nicole@nicolecoxmedia.com.au
Interviews available on request.
