After the social media ban, is the job done on child safety and wellbeing?

National Children’s Commissioner Anne Hollonds | Published in The Mandarin Monday 9 December 2024

When the backslapping over the successful passing of the social media ban legislation has finished, there is a significant amount of work that still needs to be done to improve child safety and wellbeing in Australia. 

We all want our communities to be safe places where kids can thrive and grow up to be productive members of society, and the social media ban would seem to indicate that Australia places a premium on child wellbeing. 

However, Australia is not the ‘child-friendly’ place many of us like to think it is. 

For example, Australia ranks a low 32 out of 38 OECD countries on child wellbeing. One in six children are still living in poverty and we trail other rich countries on education standards. 

Shockingly, we still lock up 10-year-olds when much of the world has moved on, with several countries now closing their youth detention centres and providing improved support in the community. 

In Australia, the systems that are meant to help children and their families in vulnerable circumstances – such as health, education, housing, and child protection – are out-of-date, fragmented and overwhelmed by the level of need.   

This is despite two-thirds of Australians being victims of child maltreatment, including domestic, family and sexual violence. 

My report recently tabled in the Australian Parliament, ‘Help Way Earlier!’ How Australia can transform child justice and improve safety and wellbeing, documented evidence about serious systems failures in Australia, as well as research from around the world about what we should be doing to improve the safety and wellbeing of our children, families and communities. 

The findings of the report clearly show that Australia has seriously neglected child safety and wellbeing for decades, and that our federal, state and territory governments need to take immediate action to prevent thousands of children and young people from falling through the cracks. 

For example, research shows that by the age of 14 years, around 50 percent of adult mental health disorders have already emerged, yet mental health treatment and support services for children and their families are scarce, even in large urban areas 

This serious lack of mental health support in the ‘real world’ has driven many vulnerable children to seek help, support and advice in the ‘online world’. 

So, the new social media ban for kids must surely now be the trigger to mitigate the risks of further isolating children in vulnerable circumstances and to address the systemic failings leading to escalating mental health disorders. 

Importantly, all kids need to feel they ‘belong’ and to have a sense of ‘connection’ to other kids facing similar challenges. 

But without access to social media, how will these isolated kids now find their tribe? 

In response, several leaders have publicly said ‘Kids should just go out and play sport’. 

In fact, children have repeatedly told me how activities like sport are really important and provide them with a sense of belonging and connection to their team and the community. 

But children and their families also told us they can’t afford the uniforms, registration, equipment and transport costs to participate in community sport. 

This is a cost that a rich country like Australia can manage if we are committed to the wellbeing of children, and if we are serious about preventing crime and improving community safety. 

Among the 24 recommendations in the ‘Help Way Earlier!’ report, we urge governments to invest in making community sport accessible and free to children who can’t afford it, so that all children and their communities can benefit. 

So, right now, both the Commonwealth Government and the Opposition have a choice to make. 

They can continue cherry-picking issues like social media bans for kids so they can win votes from parents, while ignoring decades of evidence from Royal Commissions and other inquiries showing that Australia is failing our most vulnerable children. 

Or they can embrace a bigger ambition for the wellbeing of all Australia’s children to ensure we are ‘leaving no-one behind’. 

By appointing a Cabinet Minister for Children and making child wellbeing a priority for National Cabinet alongside the other issues of critical importance for our nation, they would pave the way for real reform based on evidence and human rights. 

Currently, Australia’s federal system is used as the excuse to not act nationally on reform for children. 

We urgently need to work together across these boundaries and ensure our federation is working well for all our citizens, especially for our youngest citizens. 

ENDS | Media contact: media@humanrights.gov.au or +61 457 281 897