No child should go hungry in WA

The Valuing Children Initiative echoes calls for a school lunch program for children funded by both State and Federal Government’s to ensure no child is hungry in WA with the release of the Joint Standing Committee on the Commissioner for Children and Young People, Hungry for Change report today.

Valuing Children Development Executive Sarah Quinton said we are failing our children because we don’t value their needs and the systems required to support their families.

“What does this say about us a society when our children are suffering from hunger pains to the point it affects their wellbeing and ability to concentrate at school?,” she said.

“We have enough food, we have enough money, but we are not getting it to the children who need it the most and the impacts for them are dangerous and lifelong.

“We must shift our thinking to value children, giving them priority status in every policy, legislation and organisation in our community. The Valuing Children Initiative calls on the Government to adopt a Child and Youth Impact Assessment Tool which would ensure the rights of children are upheld and at the centre of our decision making.”

The Valuing Children Initiative, a project by Centrecare, is launching a campaign for a national Child Poverty Reduction Act which would report to Parliament every year on child poverty.

“Alarmingly, about 17 per cent of our children experience food insecurity, but we don’t know the exact amount, because we don’t measure it,” said Ms Quinton.

“This is why the Valuing Children Initiative will be calling on the Federal Government to adopt a Child Poverty Reduction Act so we can accurately measure child poverty, where it exists and how to deliver the services to children where and when they need them.”

The Centrecare and Valuing Children Initiative Submission to the inquiry recommended:

1. Clear and accessible data and regular reporting
2. Apply a human/child rights lens
3. Establish an advisory committee
4. Address poverty
5. Listen to people with lived experience, including children
6. Whole of government Child and Youth Wellbeing Strategy
7. Food Stress Index and food basket
8. Expand school breakfast programs
9. Collaborative, community-led and place-based responses

Hungry for Change - JSCCCYP report 6.pdf (parliament.wa.gov.au)

Centrecare and Valuing Children Initiative Submission to the inquiry

Media Contact: Tony Pietropiccolo AM 0417951595

Sarah Quinton 0439439233