PRIVATE MEMBERS' BUSINESS

Ms KARA COOK (Bonner) (16:45): I move: That this House: (1) notes that National Child Protection Week will be held from 6 to 12 September 2026; (2) recognises: (a) that the campaign promotes early intervention, strong communities and the importance of checking in with one another to help keep children, young people and families safe; and (b) the invaluable contribution of frontline workers, volunteers and community organisations across Australia who support children, young people and families experiencing vulnerability, including those working in domestic and family violence services, child protection, education, healthcare, mental health and policing; (3) welcomes the Government's continued investment in preventing family, domestic and sexual violence and improving outcomes for children through: (a) the implementation of the National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children 2022-2032; (b) making the Leaving Violence Program permanent with almost $1 billion in funding; (c) the $4.7 billion national cabinet package to accelerate action to end gender-based violence and deliver on the national action plan; (d) the Our Ways-Strong Ways-Our Voices: National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander plan to End Family, Domestic and Sexual Violence 2026-2036, backed by $218 million; and (e) the Commonwealth's ongoing commitment to Safe and Supported: the National Framework for Protecting Australia's Children 2021-2031 and the National Strategy to prevent and Respond to Child Sexual Abuse; and (4) encourages all Australians to use National Child Protection Week as an opportunity to check in on family members, friends, neighbours and colleagues, to look out for the safety and wellbeing of children, and to help connect people with support when they need it.

For me, as a mum of three, there is nothing more important than knowing my kids are safe, and certainly, as the member for Bonner, I want the same thing for every single child in our community and right across our country. We have almost 50 schools in Bonner—thousands of children growing up in our suburbs playing weekend sport, going to kindy, starting school and making friends, and every single one of them deserves to grow up safe, supported and loved.

But we know that is not the reality for every child. The Australian Child Maltreatment Study found that more than 62 per cent of Australians experienced at least one form of maltreatment before the age of 18. That includes physical and emotional abuse, sexual abuse, neglect, and exposure to domestic and family violence.

But, this National Child Protection Week, the key message is., 'Every conversation matters.' Across Bonner, I meet the people who are doing that work every single day to protect our kids—our teachers and our childhood educators, our police and health workers, our sporting clubs and community organisations, and the incredible frontline workers supporting families through some of the hardest moments of their lives.

Each one tells me just how important early intervention is, because protecting children cannot begin only after something awful has happened in their lives. It means supporting families before they reach crisis, it means making sure a parent who is struggling has somewhere to turn, and it means giving families the tools and support they need to build safe and stable homes.

That is why the Albanese Labor government is investing $1.7 billion through the Children and Family Support Program. That investment will support services like the Raising Children Network, providing families with trusted, evidence based parenting information, and organisations like Brave Foundation, helping young parents stay connected to education and training as well as employment.

We cannot talk about child protection without talking about family and domestic violence. Children do not simply witness domestic and family violence; they experience it, they hear it, they live with the fear and the instability it creates, and its impacts, of course, can flow through their entire lives. In Bonner, we are fortunate to have extraordinary organisations supporting women and children experiencing violence.

Our government has invested more than $4.4 billion to take action to end domestic and family violence, and, importantly, we are strengthening the way we recognise and support children who experience that violence. The Second Action Plan under the National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children will focus on enhancing support for children and young people who have experienced violence, because, as I said before, children and young people are victims-survivors in their own right and we must have systems and processes in place to protect them.

Their safety and recovery cannot be an afterthought. Child protection also looks different today to when many of us were growing up. As a mum, I know the internet is now a part of our children's lives, of course, but a child can be sitting safely at home and still be exposed to incredibly harmful material through the device in their hand or on their screen.

Pornography, bullying and abuse, content promoting eating disorders, dangerous ideas being promoted about how to treat women and girls, content glorifying crime and life-threatening stunts, and addictive features designed to keep children and young people online. Parents should not have to fight that battle alone. That is exactly why the Albanese Labor government has taken world-leading action on social media to restrict access for children under 16, and why we are now progressing a digital duty of care that puts greater responsibility where it belongs, on the companies designing and operating these platforms.

When I think about Child Protection Week, I think about the kids growing up in Bonner. Of course I think about my own kids, but I also think about the kind of community we want them to inherit. Child protection is not just the responsibility of government; it's a teacher who notices something that has changed, coaches who are checking in with kids at sport, neighbours checking in and asking if everything is okay.

Every single conversation matters, and what we do after that conversation matters even more. So this Child Protection Week, let's turn our conversation into action. Let's listen when children speak, let's support families before they reach crisis and let's make sure every child growing up across Australia is safe and loved.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Ms Mascarenhas ): Is there a seconder for the motion? Ms Stanley: I second the motion and reserve my right to speak.