News
Children's Rights
Children's rights in action: Innovations in youth justice webinar
As Australia continues to grapple with ongoing crises in its youth justice systems, this webinar explores the potential lessons our country could learn from international experiences of reform. Over the course of five years, the Oberstown Children Detention Campus in Ireland adopted a Children’s...
Children's Rights
National Children’s Commissioner urges governments to monitor child rights
Australia’s National Children's Commissioner Anne Hollonds is urging governments and service providers to implement a new national toolkit to help improve laws and policy decisions and monitor their impacts on children.
Children's Rights
National Children’s Commissioner slams ‘shocking’ new Qld youth justice laws
The National Children’s Commissioner has expressed alarm at the Queensland Government rushing through legislation to allow children to be detained indefinitely in adult detention facilities, in a further contravention of the Queensland Human Rights Act.
Children's Rights
National Children’s Commissioner calls for action after ‘shocking’ research on child maltreatment in Australia
Australia’s National Children’s Commissioner Anne Hollonds says ”confronting new findings from the Australian Child Maltreatment Study provide evidence, for the first time, of the scale of child maltreatment in Australia. "Child maltreatment is a much bigger problem than we thought, leading to...
Children's Rights
Australia’s National Children’s Commissioner welcomes national Early Years Strategy
Commissioner Hollonds said: “The Early Years Strategy will be an opportunity for cross-portfolio systems reform, recognising that children and their families do not exist in one policy silo.
Children's Rights
Governments must urgently address youth justice crisis
The Australian Human Rights Commission calls on all Australian governments to urgently address the national crisis in youth justice to prevent further harm to children in detention, and to reduce youth offending through effective systems of support.
Children's Rights
Ongoing juvenile detention crisis a failure of basic support for kids and families
Commissioner Hollonds said vulnerable children and their families have been let down by federal, state and territory governments for decades with key recommendations from various inquiries and Royal Commissions going unimplemented.
Children's Rights
Every child, in every community, needs a fair go. Shining a light on supporting children to grow up safe and supported
His Excellency General the Honourable David Hurley AC DSC, Governor-General of Australia, and Her Excellency Mrs Linda Hurley. Thank you for launching National Child Protection Week 2022 and for hosting us today. I would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of this land, the Ngunnawal people...
Children's Rights
Survey shows children need better mental health support
A national survey examining the mental health and wellbeing of children and young people during the COVID-19 pandemic shows children and their families need better support from schools and mental health services. An initiative of the National Children's Commissioner, the survey found that children...
Children's Rights
National day spotlights culture and rights of First Nations children
Celebrating and showcasing the lives of First Nations children is the focus of today’s National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children’s Day. With the theme this year of ‘My Dreaming, My Future’, the day also provides a valuable opportunity to reflect on how Australians can work together to...
Children's Rights
Government action needed to protect children in detention
Learn how the Human Rights Commission is deeply concerned about the safety and wellbeing of teenagers who were kept in adult detention centres.
