The Hon. AILEEN MacDONALD (22:11): Last week the Parliamentary Friends of Youth Justice Reform met again, this time to hear from the National Children's Commissioner, Anne Hollonds, on her recent report 'Help Way Earlier!'. The room was full of not just members from across the political spectrum but also advocates, service providers and community leaders—people on the front line of youth justice and child wellbeing. Among those present were StreetWork, BackTrack, the Justice Reform Initiative, Centacare, the Salvation Army, Domestic Violence NSW, Youth Action, the Australian Christian Lobby and the Justice and Equity Centre. They were all united by a shared belief that we can—and must—do better for vulnerable children.

Anne Hollonds spoke with clarity and care, but the voices that stayed with us were those of the children in her report. One 13-year -old girl said, "They wait until you break the law to help you. Why did they help when I was nine and everything was falling apart?" It is heartbreaking, but it is also a truth we have heard too many times: that our systems are reactive, not preventative. 'Help Way Earlier!' is not about letting children off the hook; it is about keeping them from ever needing a hook in the first place. It is about intervening early, listening carefully and recognising that when a child ends up in the justice system, something has already gone wrong. One young boy in the report simply said, "I just wanted someone who was not going to leave." That says everything. These children do not need punishment. They need connection, they need stability and they need the kind of consistent, wraparound support that many of the organisations that joined us last week are delivering every day.

The report calls for investment in what works: community-based diversion programs, family support, culturally safe and trauma-informed care, and systems that respond to distress with dignity. There was a sense of unity in that room, not just around the challenges but also around the solutions. This is not about ideology. It is about doing what we know works and listening to the young people who live it. The parliamentary friends group is not a talkfest; it is a space for cross-party collaboration and action. We have a duty to make sure that the voices we heard last week do not get lost in a report or buried in a submission. They deserve to be heard here too, in this place, because if we can help way earlier, we can change the story for kids, for families and for our communities.