National priorities, child’s perspective: Lessons from the Big Banter

Reaching out to children: reporting on a national listening tour

Megan Mitchell
National Children’s Commissioner
Australian Human Rights Commission

‘Equal life chances: How can early years services safeguard the health, development and wellbeing of all Australian children?’
Early Years Seminar Series: From Research to Policy to Practice
Murdoch Children’s Research Institute

Ella Latham Theatre
Royal Children’s Hospital
50 Flemington Road
Parkville, Victoria

17 March 2014

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1. Acknowledgments

Thank you, Sue. I would like to thank the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute and the Centre for Community Child Health at the Royal Children’s Hopsital for the invitation to speak at this Early Years seminar.

I too would like to show my respect and acknowledge the Traditional Owners and Custodians of the land on which this meeting takes place, the Wurunjeri People of the Kulin Nation.

2. Introduction

‘Equal life chances for all children in Australia’.

For a seminar on early childhood, I cannot think of a better title. I believe that we all want an Australia where every child has an equal chance at life, an opportunity to not just survive but to thrive, to make their own life choices and forge their own path.

And as we know, early childhood is a critical period for setting the foundations for a good life.

Compared to many children in the world, Australia’s children are well placed to have equal life chances, and to fully enjoy their human rights.

Australia is relatively wealthy. We have systems of social security and health care, legal protections, housing, food and water and education.

Yet, sadly, there are many children who are falling through the gaps in human rights protection and their wellbeing is threatened in fundamental ways.

Think of

• children who are at risk because of family violence and abuse, poverty, homelessness and isolation
• children who are experiencing discrimination and cyclic disadvantage, perhaps because they are Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, have disabilities or come from vulnerable refugee backgrounds
• children and young people who are gender questioning or gay or lesbian, and struggle to be accepted and understood
• children who are in contact with the criminal justice system, or those whose parents are incarcerated, or those who do not have families to care for them.

There is a long list.

And then there are many children who, regardless of their situations, share challenges, such as being bullied or staying safe in the physical and cyber world.

All these issues, and more, were highlighted in the Concluding Observations of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, when it reported on Australia’s progress in implementing the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 2012.

The UN Committee pointed to many areas where we can do much better to protect the rights of all children, especially those most at risk.

3. My role and child rights

As you may know, the Convention on the Rights of the Child underpins my work as National Children’s Commissioner.

It is the most comprehensive human rights treaty for children, covering a wide spectrum of economic, social, civil and political rights to be enjoyed by children (defined as those under the age of 18).

It recognises that children have human rights, as do adults, but that they require special protection due to their vulnerabilities. By ratifying the Convention in 1990, Australia agreed to uphold the rights of all children in Australia.

The Convention has four guiding principles which apply throughout:

• Non-discrimination (article 2)
• Best interests of the child (article 3)
• Right to life, survival and development (article 6)
• Respect for the views of the child (article 12).

Of these Guiding Principles, I am especially motivated by article 12, often called right to participate or the right to be heard

4. Young children are rights holders too!

Children should be recognised as active members of families, communities and societies with their own concerns, interests and points of view. And that includes the youngest children.

As the UN Committee has pointed out, young children make choices and communicate their feelings, ideas and wishes in many ways, long before they are able to communicate through the conventions of the spoken or written word.

To exercise their rights, young children have particular needs for physical nurturance, emotional care and guidance, as well as for time and space for play, exploration and learning with and without the gaze of adults.

5. The Big Banter

Because I believe that children are the experts about their own lives, my initial priority as Australia’s first National Children’s Commissioner has been to hear from children and their advocates.

Between June and September last year I conducted a listening tour, called the Big Banter.

I conducted workshops with well over 1,000 children and I’ve heard from a further 1,000 plus kids from my online survey and reply-paid postcards. I also heard from hundreds of children’s advocates.

This slide shows you a few of the things children and young people told me about what makes them happiest.

Around 500 children 5 years and under responded to me through pre-paid postcards, which had been kindly distributed by Goodstart to early childhood centres. We intend to explore this data further together with Goodstart during coming months.

However, I thought I would give you a taste of some of the responses from these young children, most of them by way of drawings.

In the postcards children were asked what would make life better for children and young people in Australia. Their main choice of topics were play, family and safety.

As you can see from this next postcard, some children have a pretty developed sense of priorities, even at the age of five!

I also spoke to as many children’s advocates and organisations as I could as part of my listening tour, and many of their concerns reflected the priorities expressed by children.

6. Children’s Rights Report – National priorities from a child’s perspective

The Big Banter listening tour forms one of the chapters of my first report to federal parliament, the Children’s Rights Report, which I launched at the end of last year. The voices of children feature heavily throughout the Report.

In the Report, I discuss child rights from the viewpoint of

• children themselves
• Australia’s compliance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child
• national frameworks and action plans
• those who work with and for children.

Five key themes emerged in my report and I thought I would take you through these, and discuss how they relate to what children told me, as well as some areas where I believe we can take action to make improvements in the lives of children.

7. Theme 1 - A right to be heard

Many children – in face to face meetings and the survey - raised with me the importance of having a say in decisions which affect them, and for their views to be taken seriously.

Life would be better for children if we had a say in what changes - Child in primary school from Tasmania

Letting Australian teenagers have a bigger say in how their schools are run would be a fantastic thing to do - 14 year old from Victoria

Life would be better for children if adults and older people were more open to our ideas and thinking - 12 year old child from NSW

Child rights advocates also said Australia should be better at facilitating children’s voice. While there are some great examples of child participation over the last decade, for example in individual schools, when it comes to respecting the views of the child as a matter of course we can do a whole lot better.

This is echoed by the UN Committee in its Concluding Observations, who pointed out that there are inadequate fora for taking into account the views of children below the age of 15 years, for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, children in schools and in the migration process in particular.

We need to make sure that we encourage organisations and individuals to systematically involve children in decisions affecting them, through information, education, guidelines or perhaps in some cases legislative requirements (as occurs in proceedings before the Family Court).

Hearing the voices of children is not only empowering for them, it also acts as an important safeguarding mechanism.

In this context, we need to make sure that we have complaints mechanisms, information and feedback processes for children that are accessible and responsive to their needs. Complaints and other systems that empower children to raise concerns are essential for protecting the safety and well-being of vulnerable groups of children, who may not have trusted adults to advocate on their behalf and may be at risk of abuse, violence and exploitation. Improving the accessibility of complaints and judicial systems is a strong focus of my forward work plan.

Encouraging others to inject the views of children directly into policy development and law reform and engaging children in decision-making is also a key priority for my role.

8. Theme 2 - Freedom from violence, abuse and neglect 

The second theme to emerge from the Big Banter is freedom from violence, abuse and neglect.

Growing up without violence, abuse and neglect is fundamental to the wellbeing, growth and development of children. And yet, as we know, the rates of child abuse, domestic violence and other violence impacting on children remain high. For example,

• During 2011-2012 there were 37,781 children aged 0 to 17 in Australia who were the subject of one or more substantiations of abuse or neglect, an 18% increase from 2007-2008.^[1]
• An ABS survey in 2005 found that of all women who had experienced partner violence since the age of 15 years, and had children in their care during the relationship, 59% reported that the violence was witnessed by their children.^[2]

Bullying in schools continues to be widespread. Research indicates that approximately 27% of students in Australia are affected by bullying at school, and approximately 7% reported cyberbullying.^[3] 

Further, self-harm and suicide - a form of self-directed violence - remain significant problems for young people. In 2010-2011, there were 553 hospital separations of children for intentional self-harm. 82% of these involved girls. This is a 20% increase in self-harm hospitalisations among girls since 2000-2001.^[4]

Many of the children I spoke to during the Big Banter revealed a surprising concern with safety, and the safety of their siblings and friends, in the context of both the physical and the online world.

They were particularly concerned about the level of violence, aggression and bullying in the community, and several said they would like to live in an environment that is free from drugs, alcohol and smoking.

Life would be better if nobody got hurt and children felt safe all the time

Life would be better for children and young people in Australia if there was no drugs and violence. I’ve been beaten up and bullied. I complained about it but it didn’t fix the problem - 13 year old child from the Northern Territory

Life would be better for children and young people if there was no hitting - Child from Western Australia

Concerns about violence, abuse and neglect were also raised by child advocates.

Australia is certainly aware of the problems of violence, abuse and neglect, and we have some excellent national initiatives which aim to coordinate and galvanise government action on some of the issues involved.

The National Framework for Protecting Australia’s Children and National Plan to Reduce Violence Against Women and their Children 2010-2022 are two of these.

However, there remains significant work to be done to ensure that there are targets and benchmarks in place in these national frameworks which can measure progress over time, as well as robust monitoring processes to learn what works, what must be improved and what must change. The issue of effective data collection which goes to child well-being is central to these challenges.

We also need to encourage a proactive approach to issues of child safety, one that places a premium on prevention through enabling safe communities and environments for children. The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse may deliver some useful recommendations in this regard.

9. Theme 3 - The opportunity to thrive 

As I discussed earlier, there are clearly groups of children who fare far worse and who do not enjoy the same opportunity to thrive as other children in Australia. Many of these children find themselves streamed into the costly tertiary systems of juvenile justice and out-of-home care, invariably putting them on a path to replicate patterns of social exclusion and disenfranchisement through the generations.

While not expressed in these terms, many children I spoke to are aware that there are some disparities between the circumstances of children and their families.

Some children worried that they cannot afford to do or have the things they would like, and they want more things to be available for free. They also have an awareness of poverty and other disadvantages faced by some children, and the need for children and their families to get more help with basic living costs, health, education and recreation.

I have Asperger’s Syndrome. Life in primary school was very difficult. Life would be better if people that were different, disabilities, races, religions and any other differences, all accepted each other. If there was no bullying. If schools were supportive of kids with disabilities, especially invisible disabilities like Asperger’s Syndrome.
14 year old child from Victoria

Life would be better for children and young people in Australia if we were all treated with equality and we were all treated fairly. Life would be better if everyone learned the meaning of freedom.
10 year old child from Victoria

Life would be better for children if the government made sure every child had all the rights. I think every child should have food and water.
An Australian child

Children’s advocates I spoke to had specific concerns for children in out of home care, children in the juvenile justice system, asylum seeking and refugee children especially those in immigration detention, children with disabilities, and children who are homeless.

One of the strongest themes to emerge in my meetings with child advocates during the Big Banter was the call for comprehensive and coordinated investment across the nation in early intervention and preventative services for children and families, to build resilient children and break the cycle of disadvantage.

Research, including that commissioned by the Benevolent Society in 2013, shows that it is important to do more to tackle issues for children early on, before they become difficult to fix and expensive for the community. However, it is fair to say that while there are some promising approaches, current investment in early intervention, prevention and family support across the nation is patchy and uncoordinated.

We also need to get better at identifying and focusing on the most marginalised and vulnerable children, and, to do so we need better reporting and data collection.

I will use my Children’s Rights Report to highlight the particular vulnerabilities experienced by certain groups of children, and to outline action that should be taken to assure them of their rights.

I will also continue to work collaboratively with my colleagues at the Australian Human Rights Commission to focus on groups of children in need of special protection. In February 2014, the Australian Human Rights Commission announced an Inquiry into children in immigration detention in Australia. This will investigate the ways in which immigration detention affects the health, well-being and development of children, and assess whether laws, policies and practices are meeting Australia’s international human rights obligations. The President of the Commission, Gillian Triggs, and myself, will be visiting detention facilities to examine the conditions and speak to children, families and staff during the coming months.

10. Theme 4 - Engaged citizenship 

Another theme to emerge from my report is ‘engaged citizenship’.

I believe that being engaged, and being aware of your own agency, is both important and empowering for children.

Child rights advocates raised with me the need for general education on children’s rights, in school and in specific contexts such as child protection.

The need for child rights education was echoed by children themselves, many of whom said that they knew little about children’s rights, many of whom said it would be useful to know more.

I have a little sister who is 9 years old. We both know that kids and young people should be safe and be able to go to school and have food, but we’d never heard of the UN convention that puts all of this in writing. In fact, I don’t think many young people know about the Convention. But we should know because it’s important to see this in writing and for me, it was comforting to see that I and other young people are recognised this way.
15 year old child from Victoria

Children need better education on topics that matter. Education is knowledge and knowledge is power. And all children should have the chance to use their power to better our country.
17 year old from Victoria

The UN Committee also pointed out the limited knowledge of children’s rights, and recommended that Australia includes education on children’s rights in its National Human Rights Action Plan, and modules on human rights in its school curriculum and professional training programs.

There are also other opportunities to develop children’s understanding of their own rights and responsibilities as citizens, for example, education through early childhood development and care settings.

On this, it is pleasing that Australia’s National Early Years Learning Framework includes elements which reinforce the rights of the child – in particular in regard to respecting children’s autonomy.

11. Theme 5 - Action and accountability 

Lastly, it is important that there is action and accountability for children’s rights.

For younger children, the importance of action and accountability is expressed in terms of wanting to be able to get help, and be cared for when they need it, and for other children to be helped as well. Children told me they want adults to take action.

Sometimes my friends need help but don’t know where to go or don’t want to make a fuss.
16 year old from the ACT

Life would be better for children and young people in Australia if the government banned drugs and smoking, not just around children. This would make life better for not only young people but for people who have lost members of their family from drugs and smoking.
11 year old child from Victoria

I’m a young Indigenous person. I’m locked up in a Youth Detention Centre. I want more staff to prevent fights between other inmates. I also want more help on the outside instead of being locked up straight away.
Child from Victoria

When children identify that they need help to enjoy their rights, it is incumbent on us as adults to find ways to help them.

While there are many mechanisms and organisations in place to help children realise their rights, it is clear that in the 23 years that Australia has been a party to the CRC, children’s rights concerns have been treated in an ad hoc, uncoordinated manner.

Many improvements in child wellbeing are not attributable to good planning, but rather flow on as a consequence of the general economic prosperity of the nation.

One of the consequences of this is that improvements in wellbeing are not enjoyed equally. There are clearly some groups in the community that have fallen behind, or who have not been in a position to benefit from the nation’s overall prosperity.

We need to put in place a system which can give us a clear understanding of the big picture and the overall destination of Australia’s children.

In my report I point to a number of ways we can improve this situation:

1. Collecting comprehensive national data about the wellbeing and human rights of Australia’s children

2. Progressing a national vision for children’s wellbeing and safety through intergovernmental partnerships and agreements

3. Developing outcome based reporting and monitoring of government service delivery and policy development in relation to children’s rights

4. Developing children’s impact assessment processes for law, policy and practice.

There are also some important international human rights treaties which, if ratified by Australia, would help to protect children in need of special protection.

The Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on a Communication Procedure – the so-called Third Optional Protocol – if ratified, would mean that children could make complaints to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child about the breaches of their rights, once they have exhausted domestic remedies. Since I am concerned that domestic remedies are not always accessible or available in Australia, ratification of the Third Optional Protocol would go some way to ensuring that children can have their individual concerns addressed.

Another treaty, the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (OPCAT) requires countries to set up preventative monitoring mechanisms to ensure that anyone detained – including children – are protected from mistreatment. Australia has not yet ratified this important treaty.

12. Where to from here?

As National Children’s Commissioner I will be looking to collaborate with government, civil society and children themselves to promote action against the key thematic areas I have described. And of course my annual Children’s Rights Report will be a strong tool by which I can take stock of progress on children’s rights and highlight key priority issues over time.

I hope the overarching themes I have outlined provide some food for thought as we look at the nature of disadvantage and young children’s well-being in more detail in the seminar today.

Thank you.

 

^[1]Australian Institute of Family Studies, ‘Child abuse and neglect statistics’, last updated May 2013.
At http://www.aifs.gov.au/cfca/pubs/factsheets/a142086/index.html (viewed 22 October 2013).
^[2] K Richards, ‘Children’s Exposure to Domestic Violence in Australia’, Australian Institute of Criminology Trends and Issues in Crime and Criminal Justice, No 419 (2011).
^[3] D Cross, T Shaw, I Hearn, M Epstein, H Monks, L Lester, L Thomas, Australian Covert Bullying Prevalence Study, Child Health Promotion Research Centre, Edith Cowan University (2009), p 284.

^[4] Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, A picture of Australia’s children 2012, Cat No PHE 167 (2012), p 91.