The Federal Government has been urged to deliver a National Action Plan for children and young people impacted by violence and abuse during a National Press Club Address by renowned violence against women and children expert and Monash Professor Kate Fitz-Gibbon.
Professor Fitz-Gibbon, from Monash Corporate Education at Monash Business School, was invited to deliver the prestigious speech alongside collaborator and Monash alum Matt Tyler, from Jesuit Social Services.
They called on the Federal Government to develop and deliver a dedicated five-year National Action Plan for children and young people who experience violence and abuse.
The dedicated Action Plan should identify the actions needed to fulfil the government's commitment to recognise children as victim-survivors in their own rights, and embed a children's rights framework, including recognition of the best interests' principle and that children have a right to participate in all matters that impact them.
Professor Fitz-Gibbon also called on the government to introduce a Minister for Children to ensure the needs and perspectives of children and young people are prioritised in policy- and decision-making.
"Why as a nation do we forget child victims, not only in our memories but also in our actions, in our allocations of funding and consequently in our system responses?" she said.
"What will it take for the Commonwealth government, states and territories to respond to the everyday pervasive experiences of violence and abuse among Australian children and young people?
"We have wondered whether inaction in part stems from the lack of a dedicated focus on children in the Federal Government."
Professor Fitz-Gibbon was an expert advisor on the Adolescent Man Box Report, a Jesuit Social Services survey of 1400 Australian teenagers, that was launched at the National Press Club.
It seeks to understand their views about masculinity, and how these attitudes are linked to mental health, wellbeing and behaviours.
The report makes a range of recommendations, including updates to the Respectful Relationships Education (RRE) curriculum and the introduction of a Federal Minister for Children to ensure the needs and perspectives of children and young people are prioritised in policy- and decision-making.
She says the findings inform urgent national conversations about young people's online lives, masculinity, teen mental health, gender equity and violence among young people including coercive control and image-based abuse.
"Supported by the adults in their lives, adolescents of all genders in Australia should feel that they are safe, belong, be socially connected and be hopeful for their future," she said.
"This study lays out very concrete steps to address the present insecurities and harms that are impacting adolescent lives.
"So today, using this national stage, we ask the leaders of our country, the decision makers, show you care.
"Not with words; with tangible, transformative actions."
Watch Professor Fitz-Gibbon's National Press Club Address on ABC iView.
