The Commission has played a vital role in improving outcomes for children and families for over a decade, and this year was the most significant period of transformation in our history.
The Child Safe Organisations Act 2024 came into effect and signalled a fundamental shift in our role. As the regulator under the CSO Act, we are now entrusted not only with independently examining how systems protect children, but also with regulating the standards, practices and organisational cultures that help prevent abuse before it occurs. This profound shift in our responsibilities marks an important milestone in Queensland’s approach to child safeguarding.
Becoming a regulator required more than new legislative powers—it required the Commission itself to evolve. During the year we undertook the largest organisational expansion in our history, procured the $4 million Lighthouse case management, expanded our engagement with communities and regulated organisations across Queensland, strengthened our governance and business systems, and established the operational capability needed to administer Queensland’s new child safe organisations framework and Reportable Conduct Scheme.
Simultaneously, we continued our oversight role, monitoring the performance of Queensland’s child protection, youth justice and family support systems, reviewing the deaths of children, undertaking research, advising government and communicating evidence that informed public policy and public debate. We published significant oversight reports examining school disciplinary absences, expenditure and market forces in residential care (Buyer beware), the over-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in the child protection system (Principle focus), and the realisation of children’s rights in Queensland (Child Rights Report 2025).
This work was undertaken in the context of the Queensland Commission of Inquiry into Child Protection, which brought unprecedented scrutiny to the child protection system while placing substantial demands on the Commission itself, and in the completion and release of In Plain Sight: Review into Queensland’s system response to child sexual abuse, one of the most significant reviews in the Commission’s history. The review demonstrated that child sexual abuse remains one of the most significant threats facing Queensland’s children and challenged governments and institutions to move beyond responding to abuse after it occurs. It identified practical reforms to strengthen prevention, improve intelligence and information sharing, and build organisational cultures where children are safe by design. The Queensland Government’s response accepted the need for substantial reform, announcing the establishment of the future Queensland Protection Commission and a new, integrated approach to child safeguarding. Few oversight reviews have had such immediate influence on the future direction of child safeguarding in Queensland, and I look forward to commencing the work to build a safer Queensland for our children.
Through Parliamentary submissions, system reviews, research projects, community engagement, our strengthened partnerships, and our communications activities, we are proud of how our work has influenced systemic change to deliver better outcomes for Queensland children and families.