A roundtable of Aboriginal leaders and child protection experts has urged the Western Australian Government to create a commissioner for Aboriginal children and a separate independent peak body, arguing that existing systems are failing First Nations families.
The meeting in Perth on Friday was convened by National Commissioner for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and Young People Sue-Anne Hunter.
It followed reports in The Australian newspaper that 12 children had been living alone in a house in South Hedland, in the Pilbara region.
Attendees included Elders, Aboriginal community-controlled organisations, academics and child rights and child protection specialists.
Speaking to media afterwards, they said the state should legislate an independent Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children's commissioner with powers to monitor children's rights across WA, and establish a peak body representing Aboriginal children and families.
The peak body, they argued, would address a lack of coordination and accountability across the state.
The proposals would, if adopted, shift oversight of Aboriginal children's welfare towards bodies with First Nations authority, rather than leaving it primarily with government agencies. The WA Government has not yet been reported to have responded to either proposal.
Ms Hunter said the South Hedland case pointed to problems that extended well beyond a single household.
"The circumstances reported in South Hedland demand answers. But they also require us to look beyond one house, one family, one community and one agency," she said.
She rejected the idea that child protection authorities alone could be held responsible for children's safety, saying housing, health, education and family support all shaped children's circumstances. "Statutory child protection must act when a child is unsafe, but it cannot compensate for failures elsewhere," she said.
The National Commission will also conduct a Rapid Review of child protection and family support in the Pilbara.
Ms Hunter said it would draw on existing evidence to avoid asking communities to re-establish problems already documented, and would examine why earlier reforms had not produced lasting change. Terms of reference are yet to be finalised, and a final report is expected in the coming months.
Ms Hunter said the review's value would be judged by its results. "The test is in the implementation," she said, adding that what mattered was whether First Nations children's rights were realised in practice and whether governments were held accountable.
WA Child Protection Minister Jessica Stojkovski has been approached for comment.
