Speech

How do we identify problems earlier? How do we create environments where older people, their loved ones, and staff feel confident raising concerns? and how do we get curious about concerns before they are even raised?

Every time you document an outcome, every time you connect an intervention to a person's experience, every time you make visible what actually improved somebody's life, you are teaching the system what success looks like.

“We must do better.” It’s a phrase I have heard uttered by every shade of government in every jurisdiction after Royal Commissions, inquiries and independent reviews. I have heard it after scandals, tragedies and public failures; I heard it straight after we delivered our Review of the National Agreement on Closing the Gap when I was a Productivity Commissioner.

Across education, child protection, youth justice and community services, few people would dispute the importance of listening to children and young people. Yet too often their voices are sought selectively, inconsistently, or only after key decisions have already been made. Drawing on nearly three decades of experience in child protection, public policy, human rights oversight and systems reform in Australia and internationally, Natalie Siegel-Brown challenges audiences to e