2025 Federal election platform

Ahead of the Federal Election on May 3rd, we call for a commitment from all parties and candidates to deliver research, strategies and programs that support all Australian to live safe and healthy lives.

In particular, we advocate for federal leadership to ensure vulnerable children and young people, and those living on the margins, are protected from harm and supported to thrive.

Here is a summary of our key policy solutions to break cycles of disadvantage and abuse, and create lasting social and economic benefits for all Australians:

Elevating the rights and wellbeing of children as a Cabinet priority

Across Australia, service systems that are meant to support the rights and wellbeing of children are failing the most vulnerable.

Through our programs, we see firsthand how these challenges intersect and compound to entrench disadvantage. For young people aged 15-24 who participate in our programs addressing complex needs, 61% experience four or more of the following: unemployment, disengagement from school, disability, family violence, justice system involvement, insecure housing, mental ill-health and/or alcohol and drug misuse.

We support the creation of a dedicated role within Cabinet that would provide leadership, oversight and have accountability across a range of portfolios and systems that have the potential to prevent childhood trauma and/or respond effectively to it.

Safe and respectful youth justice systems

While responsibility for youth justice sits with state and territory governments, the ongoing failures of these systems cannot be ignored by the Commonwealth – national leadership is now critical.

Evidence is clear that the younger a child is at the time of first contact with the justice system, the more likely they are to reoffend and ultimately become entrenched in the system. In other words, jailing is failing.

Through our own work, we know alternative justice solutions such as the Youth Justice Group Conferencing program we operate in metropolitan Melbourne and the Northern Territory, should be pursued to support children on a path that keeps them, their families and their communities safe.

Place-based approaches to build thriving and resilient communities

Every Australian should have access to the opportunities in life that will enable them to flourish – to complete their education, to get a job, to access secure and affordable housing, to raise their children in safe communities and to see the next generation thrive. Yet persistent and entrenched locational disadvantage is holding some back.

Jesuit Social Services’ Dropping off the Edge 2021 (DOTE), the fifth in a series of reports, clearly shows that complex and entrenched disadvantage is concentrated in a small but persistent number of locations in each state and territory across Australia. For example, 13% of locations in NSW accounted for 55% of the most disadvantaged positions across all indicators that were analysed – including social distress (low income, digital exclusion and overcrowding), health, community safety, economic wellbeing, education and lifetime disadvantage.

The findings from Dropping off the Edge also show that many of these same communities experience higher rates of environmental disadvantage, such as exposure to poor air quality and a lack of green canopy. Further, these locations are often most susceptible to the impacts of climate change and extreme weather.

Climate change poses a serious and increasing threat, with extreme weather and disaster events already impacting economic, health, and social prospects. Children and young people who are exposed to climate disasters are 4.2% less likely to complete high school, up to 4.5% more likely to experience symptoms of psychological distress and 2.9% more likely to experience short-term homelessness or temporary displacement than those who are not exposed to these events.

Governments must uphold their responsibility to safeguard children’s futures through meaningful climate action (including a just transition away from fossil fuels), while also investing in place-based, child-centred adaptation strategies.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander self-determination

Many children across Australia facing disadvantage and exclusion have been let down for a long time – yet none more so than Aboriginal children.

Recent research shows that 50-75% of Aboriginal households in remote areas of the NT live below the poverty line.

Solutions lie in funding for First Nations-led initiatives that promote self-determination, empower Aboriginal people to make decisions for their own communities and enable Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations (ACCOs) to run services and programs tailored to Aboriginal children and families.

Pathways to education, training and employment

Many young people in Australia face significant barriers to accessing education, training and employment pathways, and government efforts to address them are lagging.

Factors like unequal access to transport, digital exclusion, experiences of disaster events and housing instability can impede a young person’s ability to attend training, to secure a job, and to keep it – regardless of how dedicated they may be.

Such challenges often persist across generations and become entrenched within disadvantaged locations.

An early intervention approach can support the development of skills required to avoid the lasting consequences of unemployment and disengagement from education, and can mitigate the compounding effects of disadvantage. It can also foster greater economic participation, improve social outcomes and help build a more resilient and inclusive workforce for future generations.

Engaging men and boys to prevent violence against women and children

The prevalence of violence against women and children in Australia has been rightly acknowledged as a national crisis that is persisting across generations.

Despite growing attention and some increased government spending on this issue, we still know very little about the prevalence of different forms of violence, who is committing it and how it can be prevented.

An analysis of Jesuit Social Services’ staff case notes from 2023-24 show that at least 74% of participants in our adult justice programs and at least 53% of participants in our youth justice programs reported being a victim-survivor of family violence, with the vast majority of the reported experience occurring during childhood.

Therein lies an opportunity to engage earlier with men and boys to disrupt intergenerational cycles of violence and set young people on a path to living safer, more secure lives.

Ensuring fundamental supports for children and young people with complex needs

There are fundamentals that all people need to thrive: safe and secure housing, access to supportive services (including for disability), and social and economic opportunities. Yet some children and young people struggle to access these critical foundations.

Through our programs, we’ve witnessed how insecure and unsuitable housing can compound settlement challenges for entire families, disrupting employment and education pathways and increasing risks of social isolation and justice system contact.

For example, the cohort we work with in our youth justice programs are predominantly from migrant and refugee backgrounds, in single parent families, who have had very limited settlement support provided. This is deeply concerning, particularly given Australia’s obligation to uphold the rights of all children, including non-citizens. Conversely, holistic settlement support can be transformative and create intergenerational opportunities that deliver rewards for the whole community.

For people with disability, the housing crisis is having a particularly concerning impact. Innovative, alternative models of housing and support are needed for people whose complex needs include disability support, to promote their independence and stability, and reduce costly longer-term service interactions. There is growing concern that NDIS reforms and reassessment of individual plans will result in people being wrongly moved off the Scheme, particularly children, while many people with complex needs who’ve struggled to access the system to date will continue to be disadvantaged.

The reformed NDIS should make support pathways clearer for people with complex needs, and provide equitable access for those who haven’t been adequately supported by the existing system. Further, pricing of NDIS supports must allow for quality service provision, and the NDIS Commission must be resourced to take action against unethical providers that exploit vulnerable scheme participants for financial gain, and compromise the Scheme’s financial sustainability.

More funding is needed to ensure all young people, including those from newly arrived backgrounds and those with complex needs, have access to safe and secure housing, alongside services that support their overall health, wellbeing and community connection. Without these foundations, we risk missing critical opportunities for early intervention and positive settlement outcomes.