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Australian and New Zealand Children’s Commissioners, Guardians and advocates Group
The Commissioner is Co-chair of the Australian and New Zealand Children’s Commissioners, Guardians and Advocates (ANZCCGA) group, which promotes the safety, wellbeing, and rights of children and young people in Australia and New Zealand. ANZCCGA advocates for children and young people participation in decision-making and encouraging systemic improvement in areas like child poverty, housing, mental health, child protection, and youth justice to promote better future for all Australian children and young people.
The WA Commissioner for Children and Young People has just finished a one-year term as co-chair, which commenced in July 2024.
The ANZCCGA is committed to alignment with Australia’s commitment to uphold and embed into law the United Nations (UN) Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and the United Nations Development Program Sustainable Development Goals.
Joint statements on matters of national importance were published by the ANZCCGA, includingthe call for action to address child sexual abuse on 5 March 2025, the proposal for a social media ban for children and young people on 29 November 2024, and the Joint Statement on Poverty issued on 17 October 2024. These statements highlight the ANZCCGA’s commitment to addressing critical issues affecting the youth and ensuring their voices are heard in national discussions.
On 3 February 2025, ANZCCGA appeared before the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs References Committee on Australia’s youth justice and incarceration system inquiry, advocating for children and young people. They highlighted the crisis level of youth justice in Australia, emphasising the need for immediate and substantive reform to increase public safety and change the life trajectories of children who encounter the justice system.
The ANZCCGA noted that younger children who first encounter the justice system are more likely to reoffend and progress to more serious offending behaviour and engagement with the adult justice system.
