Thursday, 15 May 2025
Government House
Her Excellency the Honourable Margaret Beazley AC KC

Bujari Gamarruwa

Diyn Babana, Gamarada Gadigal Ngura

I greet you in the language of the Gadigal, Traditional Owners of these lands and waterways, and pay my respects to their Elders past, present, and emerging.

I extend that respect to the custodians of the lands from which you travel.

Members of the Australia and New Zealand Children’s Commissioners^[1], Guardians^[2], and Advocates^[3],

Welcome to Government House!

It is a great honour to have you all with us this afternoon, and I am appreciative of you taking time out from your annual face-to-face meeting to be here.

When thinking about what I might say to you today, my first thought was to seek an understanding of your various roles, all of course with their central focus on children and young people, but with your coming from various jurisdictions and having Commissioners, Guardians, and an Advocate in the room, what the differences in those roles might be.

I know the role of the NSW Advocate for Children and Young People^[4] well, having had the privilege of engaging with Zoë Robinson, across the five years of her appointment. I am also familiar with the role of the Children’s Guardian here in NSW, with its more regulatory focus.^[5] And I welcome Rachael,^[6] who has been acting in the role in recent months.^[7] However, checking against the various initials in your anacronym ANZCCGA, I was curious as to why our State doesn’t have a Children’s Commissioner.  

My first impulse was to turn to the NSW Advocate for Children and Young People Act 2014^[8], the legislation through which Zoë’s role, and the Office she heads, was created. As it turns out there had been a NSW Commissioner, ^[9] but this function was replaced by the Advocate in that Act, along with some fine tunings to responsibilities. These included the transfer of oversight of Working with Children Checks, which went to the Guardian under the Child Protection (Working with Children) Act 2012^[10].

According to the second reading of the 2014 Bill, this was because,

Although the Commission for Children and Young People provides advocacy mechanisms for our State’s younger citizens, I believe [the ‘I’ here being the Honourable Victor Dominello^[11], who introduced the Bill] there are opportunities to strengthen the advocacy model to ensure the voices of disenfranchised, and vulnerable children and young people are being heard and addressed by the New South Wales Government. […] The legislation also gives the Advocate the critically important role of promoting the participation of children and young people in the making of decisions that affect their lives.^[12]

This was an important change. We tend to think of advocacy as advocating for someone or something. With the newly created Advocate’s role, the Government had recognised the central place that young people had in advocating for themselves, empowering them to be active participants in the decision-making processes that impact their lives.  

This focus brings a new perspective and energy to the role of the Advocate: it is more than speaking for children and young people; more than listening to them; more than promoting and protecting their safety, wellbeing, and rights through collaboration with policy makers and service providers.  It brings the articulate generation our young people represent inside the frame—guiding, supporting, and promoting them. 

Indeed, the Act was formulated through the same processes it hoped to embed, coming out of deliberate and comprehensive collaboration with children and young people.^[13]

A former Chair of the NSW Youth Advisory Council, captured the importance of this when she wrote:

Governments, businesses and communities are often swept up in the notion that children and young people are the future and, although I believe this to be true, it is not entirely accurate. Children and young people are not just the future, they are the here and the now—not a single moment needs to be wasted for children and young people to be given a voice in this state.^[14]

The impact of work of the Advocate, and I have no doubt of the work of everyone in this room, is significant. I’ve had the opportunity to meet with many of the young people with whom the Advocate here in NSW works. As I’ve said, young people today tend to be articulate and outspoken. Importantly, they know they have to be constructive for their voices not only to be heard, but to be acted upon. And we’ve seen a number of these young people continue into active adulthood community contribution. 

The concept of active participation by young people has had a follow-on effect. There are local Youth Councils which in our regional towns have had huge success in bringing activities into the town for young people. Down in Hay, a small town in the Riverina with a population of under 3000 people, I was told recently that the Youth Council there was the best thing that had happened to the town.

I know you began your program with a visit to Reiby Juvenile Justice Centre. That has a particular relevance for me because one of the early reports that emanated from the Advocate’s Office was the apparent drop-off in activities, particularly for young women, which coincided in point of time with the Centre becoming co-ed. It was also during what has come to be known as “Covid time”. 

Arising out of conversation between myself and the Advocate, a Book Club for Young Women at Reiby was begun. We’ve participated in the Book Club, and the conversations it drew out of the young women demonstrated that these young people have deep intelligences, which is a personal resource for them. If it can be supported, there is great hope for their future, as well as ours.

However, there continues to be a huge need in supporting young people, especially those without home support and those who are part of the juvenile justice system or on the edges of it.

None of this is new to you. No matter the name of your office, your jurisdiction, or the varying legislative frameworks under which you act, you all share, and put into action every day precisely this understanding of what true advocacy is. 

Your work is at times difficult and confronting; it requires a fearlessness, compassion, and dedication that is truly inspiring.

For this, for all your efforts to improve, not only the future, but also the present lives and wellbeing of our children and young people, to empower and embody their aspirations, no matter their background and circumstance, I can say only this:

Thank you.

Best wishes for your meetings; I look forward to hearing about them.

[1] Anne Hollonds, National Children’s Commissioner, Australian Human Rights Commission; Lil Gordon, Acting National Commissioner for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and Young People, National Commission for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and Young People; Paul Clark, Executive Manager, Education Prevention and Inclusion, representing the  eSafety Commissioner, Dr Claire Achmad, Chief Children’s Commissioner, Mana Mokopuna - Children and Young People Commission (NZ); Sonya Marshall, Executive Director, Mana Mokopuna - Children and Young People Commission (NZ); Vanessa Turnbull-Roberts, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and Young People Commissioner, The ACT Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children & Young People Commissioner’s Office; Jodie Griffiths-Cook, Public Advocate and Children and Young People Commissioner, ACT Human Rights Commission; Shahleena Musk, Children's Commissioner, Office of the Children's Commissioner Northern Territory; Dale Agius, Commissioner for Aboriginal Children and Young People (SA); Isabelle Crompton, Interim Commissioner for Children and Young People, Tasmania; Mr Luke Twyford, Principal Commissioner, Queensland Family and Child Commission; Natalie Lewis, Commissioner, Queensland Family and Child Commission; Meena Singh, Commissioner for Aboriginal Children and Young people and Acting Principal Commissioner for Children and Young People, Commission for Children and Young People (VIC); Jacqueline McGowan-Jones, Commissioner for Children and Young People Western Australia; and Tracey Ninyette, Commissioner for Children and Young People Western Australia.

[2] Shona Reid, Guardian for Children and Young People, Office of the Guardian for Children and Young People (SA); Shayna Smith, Public Guardian, Office of the Public Guardian (QLD); Ms Rachael Ward, Acting Children’s Guardian, Office of the Children’s Guardian NSW.

[3] Ms Zoë Robinson, Advocate for Children and Young People, Office of the Advocate for Children and Young People NSW

[4] “The main functions [according to the Advocate for Children and Young People Act 2014] are to: advocate for and promote the safety, welfare and well-being of children and young people aged 0 to 24 years; promote the participation of children and young people in the making of decisions that affect their lives; conduct special inquiries into issues affecting children and young people; make recommendations to government and non-government agencies on legislation, reports, policies, practices, procedures and services affecting children and young people; conduct, promote and monitor research into issues affecting children and young people; promote the provision of information and advice to assist children and young people; prepare, in consultation with the Minister, a three-year strategic plan for children and young people in NSW. The Advocate also provides secretariat support to the NSW Youth Advisory Council”: Office of the Advocate for Children and Young People website, available here

[5] “The Office of the Children’s Guardian is a statutory NSW government agency that oversees organisations that provide services to children. The powers and functions of the Children’s Guardian are defined in the Children’s Guardian Act 2019. Key responsibilities include: promote the quality of child safe practices; regulate organisations and individuals providing services to children; educate employers and organisations about their responsibilities; monitor organisations and individuals to achieve ongoing, child-centred culture and compliance; [and] facilitate sector-wide cultural change to achieve safe places for children”: ‘Office of the Children’s Guardian’, NSW Government Directory website, available here. The current legislation it acts under is the Children’s Guardian Act 2019 No 25, available here

[6] Ms Rachael Ward, Acting Children’s Guardian, Office of the Children’s Guardian NSW.

[7] Ms Ward is acting in the role following the stepping aside of Mr Steve Kinmond while a Special Ministerial Inquiry is conducted into the Office of the Children’s Guardian: ‘Who We Are’, Office of the Children’s Guardian website, available here

[8] Available here

[9] Under the Commission for Children and Young People Act 1998 No 146, available here

[10] Available here

[11] The Hon. Victor Dominello MP, Minister for Citizenship and Communities, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Minister for Veterans Affairs, and Assistant Minister for Education.

[12] Advocate for Children and Young People Bill 2014, 2^nd Reading, available here

[13] “These consultations involved the appointment of two youth ambassadors to guide and oversee the consultation process; the release of a discussion paper for public comment; community round tables for children and young people in Cabramatta and Wollongong; a non-government organisation round table at which 40 agencies were represented; and classroom consultations held in 34 schools across metropolitan, regional and rural New South Wales and in each of the school sectors. Responses were received from more than 900 children and young people”: Advocate for Children and Young People Bill 2014, 2^nd Reading, available here

[14] Lua Pellegrini, ‘NSW Youth Advisory Council Chairperson’s Foreword’, in The NSW Strategic Plan for Children and Young People 2022-2024, Office of the Advocate for Children and Young People, 2022, p.6, available here