First Commonwealth Action Plan
This content was initially created in 2022. Some information may no longer be current including titles of Ministers and Commonwealth Government Departments. You can find a list of current appointments on the Directory website.
The language we use has also changed from the initial terminology in the National Strategy. For a full list of the terminology we use, see our Glossary of terms page.
The National Strategy has important information to help you understand the full picture of Australia’s approach to preventing and responding to child sexual abuse. The National Strategy’s First National Action Plan explains how Australian, state and territory governments are working together to prevent and respond to child sexual abuse. We recommend that you read the National Strategy and First National Action Plan before you read the First Commonwealth Action Plan.
How does the First Commonwealth Action Plan fit in the National Strategy?
The National Strategy gives us a strategic framework for Australia’s response to child sexual abuse from 2021 to 2030. It sets up a nationally coordinated and consistent way to prevent and better respond to child sexual abuse in all settings. This includes:
- within families
- by other people the child or young person knows or does not know
- in organisations
- online.
The National Strategy and First Commonwealth Action Plan share the same vision, objectives and values.
Vision
The vision explains what the National Strategy wants to achieve over the next 10 years.
All children and young people are protected and safe from sexual abuse.
Victims and survivors are supported and empowered.
Objective
The objective explains what it will look like if the National Strategy is successful. It will be the basis of a long-term evaluation of the National Strategy.
The National Strategy will reduce the risk, extent and impact of child sexual abuse and related harms in Australia.
Values
These values guide the work we are doing to achieve the National Strategy’s vision and objective. This includes how we design and implement the National Strategy’s measures.
Child safety is everyone’s responsibility. Australian, state and territory governments, organisations, communities, families, kin, carers and individuals all have a role to play.
The views and experiences of victims and survivors are a priority, and their needs shape our efforts.
Children and young people’s voices and views, experiences and participation are central to the decisions we make.
We hear and value the diverse views and experiences of all Australians. The work we do to prevent and respond to child sexual abuse is:
- culturally safe
- developmentally and age appropriate
- trauma-informed
- accessible and meets diverse needs and circumstances.
Evidence, data, research and evaluation informs our policies, programs and reforms.
The National Strategy
Australian, state and territory governments will put the National Strategy into practice through action plans. The first 2 action plans – a First National Action Plan and this First Commonwealth Action Plan – will run for 4 years from 2021–2024. These action plans are being implemented from the end of 2021, when the National Strategy was published and will continue until the end of the 2024–2025 financial year. Therefore, funding for and activities under these action plans will cover the 2021–2022 to 2024–2025 financial years.
The First National Action Plan includes measures that the Australian, state and territory governments will deliver together. It includes large-scale national programs like:
- raising public awareness
- population studies
- national measures to stop people from offending
- working towards a national response to children with harmful sexual behaviours.
The First Commonwealth Action Plan includes measures that focus on Australian Government
priorities and responsibilities, such as online child sexual abuse. Australian Government departments will deliver the First Commonwealth Action Plan, including programs like:
- improved intelligence to identify offenders at our border
- new ways to access legal aid for children at risk of harm, and for adult victims and survivors
- working with countries in the Indo-Pacific and South-East Asia regions to improve their ability to respond to child sexual abuse.
State and territory governments already have their own plans to implement the Royal Commission’s recommendations. They also have policies or ways to report on their actions to prevent child sexual abuse.
Two additional 3-year action plans will likely follow from 2025–2027 and 2028–2030. These plans will build on what we have done through the First National Action Plan and First Commonwealth Action Plan. Future action plans may change priorities to meet new issues, trends and evidence about what works.
| First National Action Plan 2021–2024 | Second National Action Plan 2025–2027 | Third National Action Plan 2028–2030 |
| First Commonwealth Action Plan 2021–2024 | Second Commonwealth Action Plan 2025–2027 | Third Commonwealth Action Plan 2028–2030 |
Why we need a Commonwealth action plan
The Australian Government has a significant role in preventing and responding to child sexual abuse. The rate of child sexual abuse offending is increasing and, with it, the Australian Government’s responsibility to respond.
Under the Constitution, the Australian Government is responsible for child sexual abuse offences that are committed:
- online
- via postal services
- overseas – in cases where the person is an Australian citizen.
These offences work together with state and territory child sexual abuse offences.
The Australian Government is also responsible for other areas of law and policy that relate to child safety including:
- initiatives for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples
- child safety – including family law
- online safety
- technology-facilitated crimes
- crimes committed overseas involving Australians
- workplace and employment law
- health and mental health
- migration.
The First Commonwealth Action Plan includes steps to make sure the Australian Government meets commitments it made in its response to the Royal Commission.
The First Commonwealth Action Plan shows national leadership and meaningful action. It complements national work being done with the states and territories under the First National Action Plan.
The National Strategy and its action plans will make sure Australia has holistic supports in place for victims and survivors, and a comprehensive criminal justice response.
Who the first Commonwealth Action Plan is for
Like the National Strategy, the First Commonwealth Action Plan is for:
- victims and survivors of child sexual abuse of all ages
- children and young people
- families, kin and carers
- communities
- organisations and governments.
We all have a role to play in protecting children and young people.
Victims and survivors of child sexual abuse come from all walks of life. We developed the National
Strategy and its action plans in consultation with a wide range of people, including people from the
National Strategy’s priority groups. These groups deserve and need measures designed specifically for them. This includes how we deliver, and talk about, the National Strategy.
Our priority groups are:
- victims and survivors of child sexual abuse and their advocates
- children and young people and their support networks
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples
- culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities
- people with disability
- LGBTQIA+ people
- people living in regional and remote communities.
We understand there is diversity in and across the priority groups. We also understand that some
people may be part of more than one group. When we design and implement each National Strategy measure, we will work with each group and:
- hear and prioritise their experiences
- act in meaningful ways to meet their needs
- communicate in a way that is accessible and appropriate, including developing resources for
different audiences – such as creating a children and young people’s guide to the National Strategy - recognise the effects that intergenerational trauma has, including the impact of colonisation
and dispossession, and disconnection from culture and Country - honour all parts of a person’s identity and experience.
The focus of the First Commonwealth Action Plan
Like the National Strategy, the First Commonwealth Action Plan has 5 themes:
1. Awareness raising, education and building child safe cultures
2. Supporting and empowering victims and survivors
3. Enhancing national approaches to children with harmful sexual behaviours
4. Offender prevention and intervention
5. Improving the evidence base
Each measure under the First Commonwealth Action Plan has been assigned to a theme. Some
measures are relevant to more than one theme. The links between and across the themes will be
carefully considered during implementation of the First Commonwealth Action Plan and First National Action Plan.
Many of the Royal Commission’s recommendations for the Australian Government focused on the need for national leadership and coordination. Measures under the First Commonwealth Action Plan reflect this. For example, measures aim to improve child safety in national sporting organisations or better coordinate national identification of online child sexual abuse victims.
Each measure has an Australian Government department lead. Lead departments will work with
other relevant government departments and non-government stakeholders to implement measures.
Like the National Strategy, actions in the First Commonwealth Action Plan apply to all settings,
not just institutional settings.
Over the 4 years of the First Commonwealth Action Plan, we will monitor our work on child sexual abuse to make sure we are meeting new challenges. We will do this as part of the monitoring and evaluation in section 2.
You can find a full list of the Royal Commission’s recommendations on the Royal Commission website.