Get involved
There are many ways to connect with the National Office for Child Safety.
To contact us directly, visit our Contact us page and complete the online form.
The National Office does not investigate criminal matters, deliver child protection services or provide direct support services. However, help is available. Find contact details for support services on our Get support page, and find out how to report child sexual abuse on our Make a report page.
News and updates
For email updates about the work of the National Office for Child Safety, subscribe to our mailing list. You can opt-out at any time.
Follow childsafety.gov.au on LinkedIn, where we regularly share news, updates and information about the Australian Government’s efforts to prevent and respond to child sexual abuse.
Consultations
We believe child safety is everyone's business. We are committed to engaging and consulting with stakeholders and the community to develop national policies and initiatives for child safety and wellbeing, in particular to prevent and respond to child sexual abuse.
We welcome your feedback, advice and suggestions on our policies, projects and resources.
To stay up to date on consultation opportunities, subscribe to our consultation mailing list. You can opt-out at any time.
Subscribe to our consultation list
Current consultations
Final consultation summaries on a national point of referral now available
From October 2023 to January 2024, we ran consultations with government and non-government stakeholders to inform the design and delivery of a national point of referral under the National Strategy to Prevent and Respond to Child Sexual Abuse 2021-2030. The national point of referral will help victims and survivors of child sexual abuse, practitioners and the general public to navigate the service system and access information and resources.
We engaged First Nations Collective Consulting, who partnered with Impact Co., to undertake dedicated trauma-informed, culturally safe, accessible and inclusive consultations with individuals and communities, including people with lived experience, First Nations people, people from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds, and people with disability. We also captured feedback through an online survey on the Attorney-General’s Department Consultation hub.
Stakeholders included:
- people with lived experience of child sexual abuse and their advocates
- First Nations people
- people from culturally and linguistically diverse communities
- people with disability
- people who identify as LGBTQIA+
- health services
- service providers
- government agencies
- advisory groups
- Children’s Commissioners
- legal services
- peak bodies
- advocacy services
- research organisations
- religious organisations.
Thank you to the stakeholders who took part and provided their time and expertise.
The Final National Point of Referral - Community Consultations Summary 2023 provides a summary of feedback from individuals and communities. The Final National Point of Referral - Service Sector and Government Consultations Summary 2023 outlines a summary of the feedback heard from sector representatives, peak bodies and government agencies.
Stakeholders who participated in these consultations were invited to provide feedback on the draft summaries, which has been incorporated into the final documents.
As part of the Supporting Quality Engagement with Children project, the National Children’s Commissioner consulted with children and young people to inform approaches to help seeking and service access. These consultations were undertaken in urban, regional, and remote locations across all Australian states and territories and will contribute to the evidence base informing the design and implementation of the national point of referral. Please visit the Supporting Quality Engagement with Children page for more information.
The consultation outcomes will inform our approach to developing, delivering and evaluating the preferred service model for the national point of referral. We are working with states and territories to finalise the proposed service model in 2024.
Past consultations
Consultations for 2 new national services
In 2022, we contracted Lonergan Research to undertake public consultations to inform the design and delivery of:
- a national support service for non-offending family members of child sexual abuse perpetrators (First National Action Plan Measure 10)
- a national offending prevention service for adults who have sexual thoughts about children or young people (First National Action Plan Measure 21).
From June to December 2022, Lonergan Research undertook extensive public consultations to inform the design and delivery of both services. Stakeholders included:
- members of, and advocates for, relevant National Strategy priority groups (including First Nations people, culturally and linguistically diverse communities, people with disability, and the LGBTQIA+ community)
- domestic and international organisations working in the sector
- academics
- clinicians
- law enforcement
- clients of similar services.
Thank you to the stakeholders who took part and provided their time and expertise.
Lonergan Research has compiled consultation reports for each service. Read the executive summaries:
- Measure 10 Lonergan Research Consultation Report – Executive Summary
- Measure 21 Lonergan Research Consultation Report – Executive Summary
The full consultation reports will not be shared publicly.
Consultation outcomes, including those reflected in the executive summaries, have directly shaped the service design for both new services.
For questions about this work, please contact us.
Consultation on a National Strategy advisory body
From January to February 2022, the National Office conducted consultations with government and non-government stakeholders to inform the establishment of the National Strategy's Advisory Group. The National Strategy Advisory Group Consultation Paper was released on 20 January 2022 and outlined a proposed model for an Advisory Group, as well as alternative mechanisms to consult stakeholders on the design and implementation of National Strategy measures.
The National Office received 54 submissions in response to the consultation paper from a range of stakeholders, including victims and survivors of child sexual abuse and their advocates, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, clinical practitioners, non-government organisations, and academics.
The National Strategy Advisory Group Consultation Report 2022 provides an overview of feedback from stakeholders. The consultation also informed the establishment of the National Strategy Advisory Group in April 2022. You can find out more about the Advisory Group here.
Consultations to develop the National Strategy
From 2018 to 2021, the National Office for Child Safety consulted with a broad range of government and non-government stakeholders to inform National Strategy development.
Consultations involved Australian, state and territory government agencies, and non-government stakeholders including:
- victims and survivors of child sexual abuse and their advocates
- First Nations communities
- culturally and linguistically diverse communities
- people with disability
- people who identify as LGBTQIA+
- advocates for children and young people
- regional and remote communities
- the Australian Children’s Commissioners and Guardians
- Victims of Crime Commissioners
- child protection experts
- peak bodies
- clinical practitioners
- organisations
- academics.
This includes targeted consultations with non-government stakeholders from April to July 2021.
Final development consultations from April to July 2021 included facilitated workshops with victims and survivors of child sexual abuse and their advocates, First Nations people, and people with disability and their advocates. The National Office also held individual consultations with stakeholders, including those unable to attend facilitated workshops and conducted a written consultation process, inviting over 600 non‑government stakeholders to participate.
The National Office for Child Safety Public Consultation Report 2021 reflects the outcomes of this final round of consultation. The National Strategy to Prevent and Respond to Child Sexual Abuse 2021-2030 was launch in October 2021.
Consultations between July 2018 and June 2019
In July 2019, we completed the first stage of consultations to inform relevant National Office-related activities that had been recommended by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. This included consulting on the development of the National Strategy.
Throughout this process, the National Office consulted First Nations peoples, victims and survivors of child sexual abuse, advocates, clinical practitioners, child protection experts, non-government organisations, academics and organisations.
The National Office's Public Consultation Report June 2019 reflects these initial consultation outcomes.