Finocchiaro CLP Government tonight passed the Care and Protection of Children Legislation Amendment (Every Child Matters) Bill 2026.
It delivers the most significant overhaul of the Territory’s child protection system in a generation.
Minister for Child Protection Robyn Cahill declares: ‘Tonight we didn’t just say every child matters – we put it into law.’
The Finocchiaro CLP Government tonight passed the Care and Protection of Children Legislation Amendment (Every Child Matters) Bill 2026, delivering the most significant overhaul of the Territory’s child protection system in a generation.
Parliament passed the historic legislation at 10.29PM.
By tackling the root causes of crime, the reforms put earlier, stronger intervention at the centre of the system – protecting vulnerable Territory children, strengthening families, and breaking the cycle that sees too many young people fall through the cracks.
The Bill introduced proactive efforts requirements so that families get support sooner and it modernises the Aboriginal Child Placement Principle to keep children connected to kin and culture.
It also legislates enforceable Family Responsibility Agreements and Orders to hold families accountable to better outcomes and caps short-term parental responsibility directions at two orders, ending the drift that has left children in limbo for too long.
Minister for Child Protection and Children and Families Robyn Cahill said: “Tonight we didn’t just say every child matters – we put it into law.
“For too long, children were failed by a system that acted too late. These reforms fix that.
“We are intervening earlier, backing families to turn things around, and keeping Aboriginal children connected to kin and culture where it is safe to do so.”
Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro said the Territory’s child protection system had been in desperate need of change to ensure child safety was at the very heart of the process.
“One thing was for sure, the child protection system could not stay as it was,” the Chief Minister said.
“It was failing our children, it was continuing to fail our children, and the Finocchiaro CLP Government would not let that continue to happen.”
She said part of the government’s commitment to tackling crime was also about ensuring children “get the best start in life”, without neglect, violence or abuse.
“We are putting the right of a child to be safe first, and above all else because our children are our future,” the Chief Minister said.
