The National Network welcomes the Queensland Government’s Commission of Inquiry into the Child Safety System.
‘For the sake of every child already harmed—and every child still at risk—we call on this Inquiry to not simply catalogue the same tragedies yet again,’ said Tabitha Lean.
‘For decades, investigations, reviews and parliamentary committees have exposed how so‑called “child protection” tears children—especially Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children—from family, Country and culture, funnels them into residential care, and too often pipelines them straight into children’s prisons. Another inquiry that stops at recommendations without re‑imagining the entire architecture of “family policing” would be a moral failure,’ said Tabitha Lean.
‘If the evidence tells us the entire family‑policing model must be dismantled, we must be courageous enough to do it. Tweaks at the edges won’t stop children from being harmed. We expect transformative solutions that re‑imagine care, safety and justice for children and their families,’ said Tabitha Lean.
‘Children who have survived foster care, resi care and custody must be the first voices heard and the last words written in the final report,’ said Tabitha Lean.
A call for courage
The Government created a system that fractures families and normalises child removal. Their responsibility right now is to be brave, innovative and relentless in dismantling this system. Children deserve to sleep in their own beds, learn in their own classrooms, grow on their own Country and thrive within their own communities – nothing less,’ said Tabitha Lean.
The National Network support an Inquiry—but we will hold it to account. ‘This is our chance to set a new course. Let’s not waste it,’ said Tabitha Lean.
For further comment, please contact Tabitha Lean on 0499 780 226.
