Thank you for your welcome Kristy.
Good afternoon everyone – I am delighted to be joining you here for the second roundtable of the Investment Dialogue for Australia’s Children.
I would like to begin by acknowledging the Traditional Owners of the lands on which we meet, the Kaurna people, and pay my respects to elders past and present.
I extend that acknowledgement to all First Nations peoples joining us today.
I would also like to acknowledge:
- Members of the IDAC Executive Group:
- Professor Kristy Muir;
- Matthew Cox;
- Catherine Liddle; and
- April Lawrie
- Representatives from the Community and First Nations Leadership Councils; and
- Everyone here representing philanthropic member organisations of IDAC.
And of course, thank you to the Living Kaurna Cultural Centre for hosting us today.
Before entering politics, I worked as a clinical psychologist supporting people at their most vulnerable.
I saw firsthand how my clients’ lives improved when they were listened to and were given the tools to build their confidence, to participate, to work and get ahead.
And as the federal member for the Southern Suburbs of Adelaide I have been committed to shift the dial for my local community, particularly for children and families who are experiencing the greatest degrees of disadvantage.
It is a commitment that I have the great privilege of continuing to champion across Australia as the Minister for Social Services.
It is also a commitment that is shared by the Albanese Labor Government in wanting to overhaul the way Australia tackles intergenerational disadvantage.
We know that the best way to do that is when we invest in the early years and our children – we get better results for children, their parents and the communities where they grow up.
This is echoed in the vision of the Investment Dialogue for Australia’s Children – an inclusive and equitable Australia where all children, young people, families and communities can fulfill their potential.
It is also reflected in the way the Investment Dialogue is structured, recognising that community needs to be at the heart of our vision and direction so that they are enabled to provide children with the opportunities they need to thrive.
That is why our foundational Working Together Agreement emphasises listening to, learning from and sharing decision-making with community to enable coordinated and targeted investments in better outcomes for our children.
That is why we embrace opportunities to learn from and work in genuine partnership with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, families and organisations.
We have established leadership councils led by Catherine Liddle and April Lawrie to elevate First Nations community and family voices and to inform the Investment Dialogue process.
It is fantastic to see the Chairs and representatives from these Councils here today.
I am aware that the Councils have been contributing to proposed plans and actions through formal meetings and more recently, participated in a workshop.
I thank the Council members for their important contribution and look forward to seeing your participation and valued input in the work that will be discussed today.
Since the inaugural roundtable, we have turned dialogue into action by aligning over $250 million of existing investments across philanthropy and government to Investment Dialogue priorities, including most recently the launch of the Partnerships for Local Action and Community Empowerment, or PLACE for short.
PLACE is a key priority highlighted by the Investment Dialogue and strongly aligns with our objectives, given one of its key missions is to drive better community-led solutions for children and families.
It will do so by being a national hub that unites communities with government, philanthropy and other stakeholders around this shared commitment to action using place-based approaches.
Specifically, PLACE will be a not-for-profit, independent national organisation that will support to connect community with best practice, build workforce capacity and capability, enhance data capability and security, share research, tools and information, and support collaborative solutions to accelerate progress on community priorities, including for children and families.
Together with our philanthropic partners, we have jointly contributed $38.6 million to its establishment.
These are significant achievements we can all be proud of, in our first year of partnership.
Today we look to how we build on our investment and efforts in PLACE and over the past year to deliver better outcomes for Australia’s children and their families in communities experiencing entrenched disadvantage.
I wanted to highlight some key areas in our sessions today that look to drive those outcomes – supercharging our efforts in community-led change and maximising opportunities for social impact in the early years and supporting children.
I look forward to discussing opportunities to coordinate and align our place-based investments and efforts in up to 50 existing place-based communities and trialling key enabling reforms in partnership with 3 of these 50 communities through so-called innovation zones.
We recognise communities are experts in their own experience and have solutions, driven by local data and lived experience, that can change the trajectory for Australia’s children and their families.
That is why the Government is a strong proponent of community-led approaches, which is reflected in our existing place-based work with over 60 communities across Australia, investing approximately $600 million per annum.
Given the evidence of the positive effect community-led change is having on families and children, I see supercharging our effort in up to 50 communities as a way of sustaining the positive impact we can have on the lives of children and families over the long-term.
I also look forward to trialling innovation zones in three of these 50 communities. The trials will be able to explore how we can transform funding models that have appropriate governance controls that are ‘tight’ on evidence base and probity but ‘loose’ in terms of allowing tailoring to community needs and priorities.
Working in community also requires a more joined up effort and flexible approach by Government, as community priorities for their children do not always naturally fall under the responsibility of only one Minister or agency.
That is why the Government is developing a Whole of Government Framework to Address Community Disadvantage, which we are close to finalising.
The Framework will support the Australian Public Service to adapt internal governance and coordination mechanisms to more formally connect agencies across government to work more holistically with communities.
Essentially, the Framework will make community-led approaches a bureaucratic endeavour.
Maximising opportunities for social impact investment in our children is a priority that is shared between our Government and philanthropy.
There is significant research in Australia and overseas that demonstrates the future benefits that can be realised when investing in the early years.
That is why I am pleased that under our $100 million Outcomes Fund, one of three focus areas will support positive outcomes for families and children to prevent cycles of intergenerational and community disadvantage.
The Outcomes Fund is different to how we usually fund programs and services and is driven by a desire to work differently with community.
The Outcomes Fund will give flexibility to service providers to adapt and innovate their services, so they are tailored to the needs of communities and their families and children, with services providers paid when outcomes are achieved.
This recognises that community knows how best to help their families and children and can be frustrated that they do not receive funding to do those activities because of narrow grant funding arrangements.
I look forward to discussing with you how we can work together in the Investment Dialogue to enhance and maximise opportunities under the Outcomes Fund.
We know the important and unique role philanthropy can play to complement the Government’s objectives for the Outcomes Fund such as:
- catalysing more capital to enable service providers to participate in outcomes contracting,
- maximising market engagement through best-practice service delivery models, or
- supporting communities to develop the data capacity for outcomes commissioning.
It’s my hope and goal that the Investment Dialogue grows into a flagship national initiative that improves greater coordination of government and philanthropic investment, and better enables working with community to find local solutions that are led by and are meaningful for the families and children who will be most affected.
I am looking forward over the course of the afternoon to hearing more about how the partnership is growing and establishing our forward agenda.
Thank you.
