Wednesday, 9 September 2026

 Lizzie BLANDTHORN (Western Metropolitan – Minister for Children, Minister for Disability) (12:04): Last week I had the privilege of attending the Victorian Protecting Children Awards and Department of Families, Fairness and Housing child protection staff awards to celebrate the essential work undertaken each and every day by our children and families sector workforce. Can I take this opportunity to congratulate all nominees, finalists and winners across both events who have gone above and beyond for children in care.

I acknowledge Sanjai Kissun, the winner of this year’s Minister’s Award for Excellence in Protecting Children. Sanjai is a recognised trailblazer in child protection who does incredible work to support refugee and asylum seeker children in Victoria. Sanjai has undertaken significant work keeping children safe after they have fled from war, conflict and disaster. He was also one of the founding members of the cultural engagement program for multicultural children involved with child protection. Congratulations to Sanjai on this well-deserved award.

Importantly, this week is also National Child Protection Week, with the 2026 theme being ‘Every conversation matters: shifting conversation to action’. In Victoria we are turning this theme into reality. With the support of this chamber, we have been able to pass the supporting stable and strong families scheme into law. Every conversation across government in relation to at-risk young people matters, and under the supporting stable and strong families scheme departments will turn that conversation into real action. I am delighted to advise the house that this week, National Child Protection Week, the first tranche of regulations for the supporting stable and strong families scheme has now been prescribed. This ensures that as the government we will be reporting on benchmarks that we all agree are important to the wellbeing of children in care: are children in care enrolled in and attending school, are we helping care leavers transition to stable, independent living and are children in care receiving all of their key ages and stages visits, just to name a few? Can I thank stakeholders from across the children and families sector for participating in consultation on the first stage of the regulations, with the second tranche to follow early next year. I look forward to continuing to work with stakeholders as we evolve this scheme into the future.