3 October 2025
House Standing Committee on Health, Aged Care and Disability
Committee Secretariat
PO Box 6021
Parliament House
CANBERRA ACT 2600
AUSTRALIA
Dear Secretariat
PARLIAMENTARY INQUIRY - THRIVING KIDS INITIATIVE
I am pleased to provide the attached submission to the House Standing Committee on Health, Aged Care and Disability on the Terms of Reference for the Inquiry into the Thriving Kids Initiative.
The Kids Research Institute Australia welcomes the Parliamentary Inquiry and would be pleased to provide any additional information if considered helpful to do so.
Should you require any clarification or further information to assist the Inquiry, please contact Fiona Roche, Head of Government Relations on Fiona.Roche@thekids.org.au or 0405 420 052.
Your sincerely
redacted
Professor Jonathan Carapetis AM
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
HOUSE STANDING COMMITTEE ON HEALTH, AGED CARE AND DISABILITY INQUIRY INTO THE THRIVING KIDS INITIATIVE
Submission on the Inquiry Terms of Reference by The Kids Research Institute Australia
3 October 2025
About The Kids Research Institute Australia
As one of the largest and most successful medical research institutes in Australia, The Kids Research Institute Australia (The Kids) works with community, researchers, practitioners, policy makers and funders, as well as Federal and State Governments to inform and improve the health and wellbeing of children through excellence in research. With the vision of happy healthy kids, and First Nations health and equity at the heart of our new strategic plan, Research Reimagined, we are committed to working closely with Government to improve the lives and wellbeing of children and young people.
Recommendations against each Term of Reference
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Examine evidence-based information and resources that could assist parents identify if their child has mild to moderate development delay and support parents to provide support to these children.
We recommend the wording be amended as follows: “Examine evidence-based information and resources, drawing on and including National frameworks and guidelines, that could assist parents identify if their child has mild to moderate development delay and support parents to provide support to these children.”
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Examine the effectiveness of current (and previous) programs and initiatives that identify children with development delay, autism or both, with mild to moderate support needs and support them and their families. This should focus on community and mainstream engagement, and include child and maternal health, primary care, allied health playgroups, early childhood education and care and schools.
The current wording “Examine the effectiveness of current (and previous) program and initiatives that identify children with …” reinforces a diagnosis (and NDIS) driven perspective as those programs have historically prioritised children who meet specific eligibility criteria and risks overlooking children with
developmental needs where supports do not exist. We further believe only evidence-based programs and initiatives should be examined. We therefore recommend the wording be changed to “Examine the effectiveness of existing and emerging evidence-based programs and initiatives that support children with …”
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Identify equity and intersectional issues, in particular, children who identify as First Nations and culturally and linguistically diverse.
We recommend the wording be changed at the start to say: “Identify evidence-based approaches for addressing equity and intersectional issues …” We further recommend adding at the end: “and how a genuine model for codesign and coproduction can be utilised in the design and delivery of Thriving Kids.” Equity considerations should not be limited to First Nations and culturally and linguistically diverse children and hence we recommend adding wording: “as well as those children with socioeconomic disadvantage and those living in rural or remote areas.”
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Identify gaps in workforce support and training required to deliver Thriving Kids.
The current wording to ‘identify gaps in workforce support and training’ implies that the only issue impacting delivery is workforce skills and training, whereas the difficulties are broader than this and lie in structural shortages, funding models, and siloed systems. We therefore recommend the wording say: “and the full range of issues and barriers that impact the ability of the workforce to deliver Thriving Kids …” We also recommend acknowledging there may be parts of the broader workforce that may be under-utilized and hence suggest of adding wording at the end to say: “including whether there is under-utilised workforce capacity and capability that could provide support.”
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Draw on domestic and international policy experience and best practice.
We recommend adding “with a particular emphasis on models and approaches based on sound and robust evidence and that focus on inclusive, needs-based, and early intervention models, rather than replicating condition-specific or eligibility-dependent frameworks.”
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Identify mechanisms that would allow a seamless transition through mainstream systems for all children with mild to moderate support needs.
We recommend the wording be expanded to include “Examine evidence-based models for connecting and coordinating mainstream, foundational, and specialist support.” We further recommend that the wording be amended to “Identify mechanisms and tools to support coordination of, and transition between, supports across health, education, disability, and community services.”
Thank you for the opportunity to provide this submission. Should you require any additional information or clarification, please contact Fiona Roche, Head of Government Relations, redacted