Executive summary
The endorsing organisations for this submission welcome the opportunity to work with the Victorian Government and our community partners to prioritise strategies that emphasise our collective responsibilities to ensure the safety and protection of children. Our submission provides feedback that we believe will strengthen these responsibilities while also raising concerns about where information sharing may result in adverse, unintended consequences, especially in the context of family violence which is a significant harm impacting on children’s rights and safety. As such, we put forward a range of safeguards that the child information sharing regime should employ to engender a culture of information sharing that promotes safety. Furthermore, we make particular suggestions around making sure that information sharing mechanisms do not deter family violence victim survivors (adults, children and young people) from accessing services and do not exacerbate risk in circumstances where family violence perpetrators use information to control partners and children.
