Promoting, monitoring, reviewing and advocating for the wellbeing of all children and young people in Tasmania are key components of the Commissioner’s role. The Commissioner consults regularly with young Tasmanians, as well as their carers and support providers, to understand the factors that influence their wellbeing.
In February 2020, Commissioner McLean released her report ‘Investing in the Wellbeing of Tasmania’s Children and Young People’ which proposed that Tasmania develop a long-term, bipartisan strategy to improve the wellbeing of Tasmanian children and young people. It also recommended that increased investments be made in the first 1,000 days of children’s lives, including during pregnancy, and reducing fragmentation in service delivery.
In March 2020, the Tasmanian Government announced it would introduce a child and youth wellbeing strategy including a specific focus on the first 1,000 days of children’s lives. Later that year, the Government asked the Commissioner to undertake consultations with children and young people aged up to 18 years to inform its strategy.
The Government has released Tasmania’s first Child and Youth Wellbeing Strategy, ‘It takes a Tasmanian Village’.
Find out more about the Government’s strategy to improve the wellbeing of Tasmanian children and young people here.
In 2020, Commissioner McLean conducted consultations with 408 children and young people and around 90 carers to inform the development of the Tasmanian Government’s Child and Youth Wellbeing Strategy. The Commissioner also submitted a response to the Government’s Child and Youth Wellbeing Strategy Discussion Paper .
In August 2021, the Government released Tasmania’s first ever Child and Youth Wellbeing Strategy, ‘It Takes a Tasmanian Village’, which was informed by the extensive consultations with children and young people across the state, including the Commissioner’s consultations.
In 2016, former Commissioner Morrissey initiated the publication of a report on the health and wellbeing of Tasmania’s children, young people and their families. This report brought together, for the first time, a range of publicly available data on Tasmania’s children and young people’s health and wellbeing. Former Commissioner Morrissey released a consolidated version of this report in September 2017.
In August 2018, Interim Commissioner Clements released an updated version of this report – The Health and Wellbeing of Tasmania’s Children and Young People Report 2018. This provides updated data, where more recently released data are available, and also includes some additional data.
The 2018 Report includes demographic data, data pertaining to early childhood and the transition to school, and middle childhood and adolescence, and data relating to targeted support for children and young people.
It is designed to provide individuals, community members, professionals, members of government and non-government organisations, and children and young people, with a picture of the health and wellbeing of children and young people in Tasmania.
The publication of the 2018 Report represents a contribution to the collective work necessary to improve the health and wellbeing of Tasmania’s children and young people.
Interim Commissioner Clements has also published a companion document, developed particularly for readers who are children and young people, called Tasmania’s Children and Young People in 2018. The purpose of this child-friendly version is to assist children and young people to engage with the story that the data tell.