The Queensland Family and Child Commission's inaugural Queensland Child Rights Report 2023 calls for the implementation of a comprehensive Children's Plan in Queensland, which would coordinate strategies and actions across government to better protect, promote and uphold children's rights.

The report was released in the same week the Queensland government introduced legislation to allow the detention of children in watchhouses, in breach of the state's Human Rights Act.

Natalie Lewis, a Gamilaraay woman, and QFC Commissioner since May 2020, told National Indigenous Times it was the first time the Commission has adopted "a rights-based approach in monitoring and reporting how well Queensland is doing on the rights of children".

She said it was important that the standards applied are "embedded in the (UN) Convention on the Rights of the Child", making them "goal posts that don't move".

"We wanted to take an approach on monitoring and reporting based on a set of protections for children so that we have obligations beyond a particular strategy or term of government," she said.

"We have looked across the different clusters of rights protected in the Convention; civil rights and freedom, education and play, disability. One of the struggles when we talk about rights is that it's sometimes over-legalistic. We have used these clusters of rights to make it accessible for everybody to understand what we're talking about."

Ms Lewis said that "ordinarily when we are talking about rights we are dragged into talking about a particular crisis at a particular point in time" rather than the overall principles that should be applied at all times.

"These rights apply to all children, any day of the week. All children have the right to healthcare, education, for their identity to be acknowledged. And these are things we as a country value… In this report we have tried to look at these rights and entitlements all children in Queensland have.

"There are issues that disproportionately impact Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander children, and we know this from the data in the Close the Gap reports, in the Productivity Commission reports… What we have tried to do is unpick this data… and it often comes back to the fact that in remote and regional parts of Queensland children do not have equitable access to primary health services, early assessment and support for disability, or quality early childhood programs.

"When children don't have access to those things it compromises their long term prospects in terms of health, education, and the likelihood they will come into contact with child protection and the justice system."

Ms Lewis said it is important to "re-focus on areas where we can make a significant impact in terms of long term, and call out where the inequities exist and encourage government to take a rights-based approach to making sure children experience equity".

"We have a really huge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth population in Queensland. 30 per cent of the First Nations population in Queensland is under 18, there is a significant opportunity to making a positive impact by promoting and protecting children's rights.

"The Queensland government must commit to a children's plan that is rights-based as a kind of tethering point for all the strategies. There are so many strategies… the thing that is missing is cohesion across the policies and strategies, we want to develop a single point of accountability and coordination.

"We make decisions in silos, we fund in silos, but children do not live in silos. We need to use the Convention on the Rights of the Child to achieve better outcomes for children."

The report explores child rights issues the QFCC has observed in its statutory role, including a special chapter that focuses on Queensland's youth justice system and assesses Queensland's compliance with its obligations under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC).

It emphasises the urgent attention needed to improve Queensland's youth justice system and address the persistent over-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people.

The report also analyses issues relating to children's civil rights and freedoms; violence against children; the child protection system; disability, health and welfare; and education and play.

It highlights Queensland's achievements in embedding a rights-based approach, including enacting the Queensland Human Rights Act 2019, expressing a commitment to First Nations Peoples through the Path to Treaty Act 2023, and action to address gender-based violence, but it also shows there is more work to be done to protect and promote children's rights in Queensland.

Areas for improvement in Queensland include: the need for improved data collection relating to violence against children; independent oversight for permanency decisions relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children; better services for children with disabilities; and more equitable and inclusive practices in housing, health care, mental health services, education, and school disciplinary measures.

The report calls for the government to implement a comprehensive Children's Plan for Queensland, which would detail specific strategies and actions required across government and sectors, ensure strong coordination and collaboration between agencies, and direct resources and investment to the areas of greatest need.

In a statement, the Commission said: "A Children's Plan would allow Queensland to effectively measure its performance and progress in advancing children's rights and maximise the positive impact it has on children's lives."