There is an urgent need to make child safety, rights and wellbeing a national priority and to fix the accountability gaps putting them at risk

Looking back at the past five years since I began in the role of national children’s commissioner, I am struck by how difficult it has been throughout this time to get political attention on the unmet needs of our most vulnerable children, who continue to be “left behind”.

Far too many of these children end up in the overwhelmed child protection and justice systems because of poverty, disabilities, health and learning problems, discrimination and disadvantage.