New research has found that government spending on child protection services nearly doubled over a decade to more than $10 billion, while child protection activity remained largely the same. Source: ACU.
The first-of-its-kind study, undertaken by researchers at Australian Catholic University in collaboration with partner universities, tracked a full decade of child protection system activity alongside government expenditure. It used publicly reported data from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare and the Productivity Commission.
The researchers found that in the decade leading up to 2024, government spending on child protection nearly doubled from $5.4 billion to $10.2 billion – an increase of $1078 to $1765 per child.
Despite the increased spend, the number of children subject to safety investigations did not change between 2014 (20.2 per 1000 children) and 2024 (20.9 per 1000 children).
Australian Catholic University’s director of the Institute for Child Protection Studies Daryl Higgins said the research highlights the need for a national child abuse prevention strategy.
“We currently have a strategy to prevent child sexual abuse, but the abuse and neglect of children is wide-ranging and complex,” Professor Higgins said.
“We need a cohesive approach across the states and territories to focus funding where it is needed most – prevention.”
In each year of the decade studied more than 50 per cent of children who came into contact with child protection had already been the subject of a safety investigation.
Lead author Claudia Bull, from the Deakin Lifespan Institute, said this suggests there are persistent unmet needs among children and families.
“A significant proportion of government spending – about 64 per cent – goes towards out-of-home care and other supported placements,” Dr Bull said.
“This means there’s less money for services that support families earlier and prevent children from entering the system in the first place.”
The disconnect between rising expenditure and stable activity raises critical questions about whether increased resources lead to improved outcomes.
“Our study raises questions about system sustainability and efficiency. If we want better outcomes for Australian children, we need to rebalance funding across prevention, early intervention, and system responses to child protection,” Dr Bull said.
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