Tasmania State Budget Submission 2025-2026

The Centre for Excellence in Child and Family Welfare (the Centre) is pleased to submit its first pre-budget submission to the Rockliff Government, having been welcomed in 2024 as the peak body for children and families in Tasmania.

This Tasmanian Government’s commitment to addressing the findings of the Commission of Inquiry into the Tasmanian Government’s Response to Child Sexual Abuse in Institutional Settings (COI) has created an unprecedented opportunity for meaningful change in the child and family system.

In this context, the need for a strong peak for organisations working with children and families has never been more important. So too is the need for increased investment in organisations working with children and families.

In October 2024, in a room filled with organisations working with children and families across the state, the Minister for Children and Youth, Roger Jaensch, officially launched the Centre in Tasmania. There was a palpable sense of optimism in the room as attendees spoke of Tasmania’s unique place-based strengths and community spirit in supporting children, young people, and their families, and the aspirations they have for making Tasmania a more inclusive, equitable, and safe place to live.

Like all our work as a member organisation, this submission is grounded in the voices of those we represent. Many recommendations stem from the Centre’s Connecting Tasmanian Communities Tour, undertaken between July and October 2024, before the Centre’s launch. During the tour, we travelled across the state, engaging directly with Tasmanians working with children and families in their communities. We met with 210 people from 80 organisations and covered over 1,620 kilometres to hear firsthand about the unique strengths of Tasmanian organisations supporting children, young people, families, and carers.

Tasmania’s child and family services professionals highlighted that children and families across the state are struggling with cost-of-living pressures. These statements are backed by the Australian Council of Social Service’s (ACOSS) Poverty in Australia report, which shows that 21% of Tasmanians are living on an inadequate income and approximately 120,000 Tasmanians are currently living in poverty. More double-income families and people with mortgages are struggling with cost-of-living pressures, as people who may have been insulated from this crisis before are now feeling the toll.

We know that financial instability places significant stress on parents and caregivers, impacting their physical and mental health and reducing their capacity to provide consistent and responsive care. In a cost-of-living crisis, a strong child and family system becomes even more critical to supporting families, reducing stress, and changing life trajectories.

The Centre’s Connecting Tasmanian Communities Tour showed us that the Tasmanian child and family services sector—including our carers—is a passionate, committed workforce. We need to strengthen and build the capability of our dedicated child and family professionals.

Above all, our consultations underscored the importance of investing in two key areas:

• The Family Services Platform: This platform provides early support to families, helping prevent escalation into extreme vulnerability. Family support services offer targeted, specialist support throughout the family’s journey so they are connected to the services they need when they need them. It also helps families develop the skills to be the best parents they can be, reducing child maltreatment and demand on child safety.
• The Out-of-Home Care (OOHC) System: This system supports children, young people, and families who can no longer live with their birth parents and who have often experienced significant trauma. Now, more than ever, with the COI’s recommended reforms, we need a well-resourced OOHC system that not only protects children but also facilitates family reunification whenever possible.

The Centre’s Tasmanian State Budget Submission for 2025-2026 advocates for increased investment in family services and out-of-home care, emphasising early intervention, workforce capacity building, and culturally informed support for Aboriginal families. It outlines eight key recommendations to strengthen services, support carers, and implement reforms to improve outcomes for children and families across Tasmania.