paul led a dedicated team that produced the State of Launceston’s Children 2014 Report
In my capacity as the Northern Regional Manager, and then State Manager of Children, Family and Community Services at Anglicare Tasmania, I led the Communities for Children (CFC) initiative in the Launceston Tamar Valley from 2010-2016. Inspired by the work of the City of Greater Bendigo in becoming the first Australian city to be recognised as a child friendly city by the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Relief Fund (UNICEF) in 2009, I supported the CFC Team to collaborate with the City of Launceston Council and the Northern Tasmanian Early Years Group to explore child friendly city status for Launceston. From late 2012 to mid 2014 we convened a working group of stakeholders interested in increasing awareness and understanding of the health and wellbeing of children in Launceston. The first product of this working group was The State of Launceston’s Children report, released in 2014. The goal was to work on addressing the issues raised in the report, and then publish a similar report every four years to gauge progress and encourage the public to hold services and government accountable for outcomes. I was made redundant from Anglicare in 2016 and could not continue to lead this work. I believe a similar report was published by CFC in 2018 under a different title however this is no longer available online.
Summary of Outcomes as per the 2014 Report
Compared to the Tasmanian or regional average, more children in Launceston:
- Have opportunities to play
- Contribute to society through unpaid work
- Have access to social housing
- Have access to allied health services
- Are less likely to be victims of sexual assault
Compared to the Tasmanian average, more children and young people in Launceston are:
- Not physically ready for the school day, do not have physical independence, or are lacking gross and fine motor skills
- Performing lower in social competence
- Demonstrating lower (school based) language and cognitive skills
- Demonstrating lower communication skills and general knowledge
- Less likely to visit a Child Health Nurse at the 3.5 year old check
- More likely to be hospitalised due to injury
- More likely to have a child protection notification made about them
- Suffering higher rates of assault
- Living in low-income households
- Living in households with no internet access
Link to the The State of Launceston’s Children 2014 Report
Link to Mercury Newspaper coverage of launch of report
Link to Examiner Newspaper coverage of launch
Link to follow up article in Examiner Newspaper
