Overview
In 2023-24, Mission Australia supported 23,420 Tasmanians on their journey towards independence, including over 10,000 people through our children and families services. We work closely with vulnerable young people with complex needs, including through our Targeted Youth Support Service (TYSS), YouthBeat programs, Integrated Family Support Services (IFSS) including leading an alliance of IFSS providers, and our work on the Strong Families Safe Kids, Advice and Referral Line. Our submission focuses on four key areas that we wish to highlight to the Committee for consideration in the implementation of the Commission’s recommendations:
- Prevention and early intervention approaches to keep children and young people out of institutional settings.
- Expansion of child safe measures to all organisations working with families, children and young people at high-risk.
- Child and youth involvement in service and policy design.
- Reform of commissioning processes to support sustainable, high-quality service delivery and the transition to a prevention-oriented system.
We recommend that:
- The Tasmanian Government invest in early intervention and prevention services that reduce harm to children and decrease the demand for high-cost crisis services.
- That the Tasmanian Government commit to co-design with children and young people as a core principle of policy/program/service design and delivery.
- That the Tasmanian Government:
- Fund the full cost of service delivery, including infrastructure, management and administration costs, and appropriate indexation.
- Actively involve community service organisations in determining the full cost of service delivery to ensure arrangements are realistic, transparent and reflect evidence.
- Schedule opportunities prior to the beginning and during the life of contracts for government and community service organisations to assess appropriate resource allocation, including changing costs over time.
- Increase the use of long-term contracts when commissioning and recommissioning services, to at least seven years for most programs and 10 years for place-based programs in communities with persistent and entrenched disadvantage.
- Provide a minimum of two years for any extensions and issue official notice as soon as possible for contract renewals or retenders – at least six months before the end of the contract.