10 DECEMBER 2025
While Aboriginal community-controlled organisations (ACCOs) are delivering on solutions to close the gap for our communities, governments in Australia are not following through with commitments and funding to ensure this critical and urgent work can continue.
Today, the National Voice for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, SNAICC, have released their tenth annual Family Matters Report, which monitors Australian governments’ removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Isander children from their families.
“The report confirms what we already know. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people are still removed from their families at disproportionate and alarming rates, and while governments pay lip service to these figures, change is not happening fast enough,” said Muriel Bamblett, CEO of the Victorian Aboriginal Child and Community Agency (VACCA) and Chairperson of SNAICC.
According to the Family Matters Report, in 2023-24, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children were 9.6 times more likely to be in out of home care and on third-party parental responsibility orders, representing a 0.5 per cent increase on 2022-23.
The report highlights that prevention and early intervention programs, such as maternal and child health, childcare, early education, and family violence prevention, are crucial to keep children safe, yet funding in these areas has decreased over the last five years.
“We know that when Aboriginal-led alternatives to mainstream systems are supported and funded, the outcomes are better for our children. VACCA has been working towards building an Aboriginal evidence base to show that culturally safe, trauma-informed services delivered by ACCOs work. It is critical that governments are investing in the programs that are supported by evidence and essential to healing and strengthening our communities,” said Ms Bamblett.
The report notes that in Victoria, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children are four times more likely to be reported to Child Protection, a figure that increases at every stage of the child protection process, with Aboriginal children being 22 times more likely to ultimately be placed in care.
While Aboriginal children represent 32 per cent of all children in care, ACCOs receive only ten per cent of care services funding.
“What we are seeing are failures right throughout the system, before our children are even born. ACCOs are showing, time and time again, that Aboriginal decision making in Aboriginal hands works to protect, strengthen and reunite families,” said Ms Bamblett.
According to the Productivity Commission’s 2024 report on the National Agreement on Closing the Gap, current government practices do not reflect the value of the ACCO sector, governments do not recognise that ACCOs can achieve better outcomes, and crucially, governments must provide dedicated, reliable and consistent funding.
Ms Bamblett said, “Governments need to show they are listening and work with ACCOs and communities on a joined-up response, across sectors, and invest in the evidence-based programs and services that produce results. And funding must be guaranteed – we need continuity and certainty because we know we can deliver the outcomes our community needs.”
VACCA joins SNAICC in calling on governments all around Australia to act with urgency and create systems that keep our children and families safe and supported in community and culture.
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ABOUT VACCA - www.vacca.org
The Victorian Aboriginal Child and Community Agency (VACCA) is Victoria’s Peak Voice for Aboriginal children. We are the leading provider of Aboriginal child and family services, and the largest provider of services for Aboriginal family violence and homelessness. We have been supporting children, young people, and families in the community for over 47 years as an Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisation (ACCO).
Through our vision of self-determination – Live, Experience, and Be – we exist to support culturally strong, safe, and thriving Aboriginal communities. We deliver over 80 programs across Victoria including child and family services, family violence, support for stolen generations, child protection, cultural strengthening programs, mental health, financial services, justice and redress support, early years, and homelessness services.
We acknowledge the traditional owners of the lands on which we work. We pay our respects to their elders, past and present, and to their children and young people who are the future elders and caretakers of this great land.