Children, youth and families

Mission Australia’s submission to the Review to Achieve Educational Excellence in Australian Schools focused on young people disengaged from education, strengthening communities, early intervention and participation in extra-curricular activities.

Our submission to the Department of Social Services consultation into Stronger Outcomes for Children focused on a number of key areas including the Communities for Children program. We made a range of recommendations including expanding and building upon the Communities for Children program through the future funding rounds of family and children activities. We thank the staff members from NSW, VIC and QLD for their valuable contributions.

Mission Australia supports the principal of a national WWCC as we believe that a stronger response can be achieved through a national scheme that delivers clear and consistent outcomes, efficiency gains and ease of administration. A national scheme will also support the mobility of workers and volunteers across multiple jurisdictions.

Mission Australia’s response to the NSW government’s ‘Their Future Matters’ access system redesign discussion paper. We welcome the opportunity to make a submission in relation to moving the system from crisis to early help: connecting children, young people and families to the right supports at the right time.

This submission highlighted the survey findings based of young people in Victoria from Mission Australia’s 19th annual Youth Survey Report. It also highlighted the COVID-19 Recovery Plan for Young People in Victoria developed by the Youth Affairs Council of Victoria.

We believe that policy development and service delivery should be informed by the voices of the people affected. Accordingly, the findings and recommendations in this submission draw on what we’ve heard from young people themselves, gained though: our annual Youth Survey; and consultations specifically for this submission.