This article examines the politics and ideology of Victorian child protection services during the Kennett years. The argument advanced is that the Kennett Liberal/National Party Coalition Government viewed child abuse in narrow, individualistic terms. In contrast to the previous Labor Government, which emphasized a philosophy of minimal intervention based on a partnership of family, community and the state, the Kennett philosophy was one of minimal support. The key emphasis was on the reporting of child abuse to statutory child protection authorities, and the treatment and punishment of individual offenders. Spending on broader structural prevention and support services which actually help the victims of abuse was not a priority.

A number of examples of this neo-liberal agenda are given, including the poorly timed introduction of mandatory reporting and the associated diversion of resources from support services to investigation; the early cuts to accommodation and non-government support services; the inadequate response to demonstrated links between child abuse and poverty; the censorship of internal and external critics; and the appalling handling of the strike by child protection workers. Attention is focused primarily on the broader macro-political debates, rather than specific micro-service delivery issues.

Over the past decade imprisonment rates in Australia have substantially increased. As imprisonment rates rise, so too do the number of families affected by the imprisonment of a parent. Yet the needs of parents in prison and their families have received little attention in social policies and service delivery practices. As the specific issues faced by parents in prison and their families cross many areas of government and community services responsibility, they all too easily slip from policy agendas. This paper outlines the challenges to, and potential for, restorative practices with families affected by the imprisonment of a parent. It draws on recent research undertaken by the authors into the family support needs of parents in prison and their families.

This article describes an Australian project which was conducted over several years in which small groups of young people were engaged to participate in the selection of staff to work in youth programs. It builds upon a series of small projects of a similar nature which have been conducted in the UK over the years 1993 to 1996. The collaboration of staff and young people in staff selection was a rewarding one, and led to the conclusion that with appropriate preparation and resourcing, this process is a very worthwhile addition to conventional staff selection, and one which adds useful information to the selection decision.

This paper looks at the issues impacting on the physical and mental health of children placed in out-of-home care and at the capacity of the care system to recognise and respond to those needs. It draws on the findings of a recent exploratory research project in Perth, commissioned by the General Practitioners’ Evaluation Programme (GPEP), in which the author participated as a researcher. The paper focuses in particular on the paucity of information about the child’s journey through the care system, reflecting on the aggregate ‘snap-shot’ focus on cohorts and ‘children as through-puts’, rather than on individualised, longitudinal profiles of placed children. A typology of care journeys is presented as a potential framework for locating and mapping children’s experiences.

When the Wood Royal Commission into the New South Wales Police Service released its final Report on the Paedophile Inquiry in August 1997, its recommendation to remove the distinction between heterosexual and female homosexual sex and male homosexual sex by lowering the age currently set for the latter category surprised many citizens. There was concern, firstly, about the fact that the lack of satisfactory protective mechanisms in the prevailing laws would escape investigation and, secondly, that acts previously understood to be paedophilia and pederasty would be de-criminalised, thereby increasing the vulnerability of young Australians to sexual predators.

The Crimes Amendment (Sexual Offences) Bill, introduced into the New South Wales Parliament in October 1997, and reintroduced in 1999, suggests a firm determination to implement the Royal Commission recommendation on consent, notwithstanding the fact that such change would be implemented in the absence of community debate and without addressing the implications of de-criminalisation. Although the Bill was rejected in the Upper House on both occasions, it is believed that further attempts will be made in the near future and, again, it will be in the absence of broad community debate. It is also widely believed that, should a change of this nature be implemented in New South Wales, it will have implications for children in other states across Australia.

This paper explores the implications of equalising at a lower rather than higher minimum age of consent.