Arabic version: إيصال أصوات أطفال بيلبارا إلى البرلمان الفيدرالي

According to ABC News, the End Child Poverty campaign is taking recordings of children from South Hedland in Western Australia’s Pilbara to federal ministers and MPs in Canberra. The project, delivered with the locally based Youth Involvement Council, seeks to put children’s own accounts of hardship before decision-makers.

South Hedland sits near Port Hedland, where billions of dollars in trade are exported each month, yet children have been described as experiencing profound disadvantage. Youth Involvement Council chief executive Tania Murray said some young people returned to substandard housing, little food, overcrowding, inadequate air conditioning and, at times, little sense of safety.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics’ Socio-Economic Indexes for Areas gave South Hedland a score of 989, below the broader Port Hedland area average of 1,011. Valuing Children Initiative executive director Sarah Quinton said the council had raised concerns about 500 children using its service who were hungry, had not eaten or slept, or had not attended school.

The campaign is calling for a nationally legislated strategy to end child poverty, including a definition and child-centred measures. WA Commissioner for Children and Young People Jacqueline McGowan-Jones supported a nationally legislated poverty reduction strategy. A federal Department of Social Services spokesperson said the government was working to break disadvantage and that regional and remote families could face unique barriers. Ms Murray urged people in Canberra to visit, sit with young people and listen to them.