Last year, 1142 women and children were recorded as victims of assault in communities across Cape York. Photo: Unsplash/Zohre Nemati.
Indigenous thinktank the Cape York Institute says more needs to be done to address horrific rates of alcohol-fuelled violence on the peninsula and has called on the State Government to do more to enforce parental duties in response to the damning Child Safety Commission of Inquiry.
Cape York Institute CEO Kirsty Davis has spoken out as the government has accepted 32 of 52 inquiry recommendations in full and 16 recommendations in principle. Another two recommendations have been noted and two more are due to be further considered.
Systematic failures in the child safety system which developed over years, including endemic violence and sexual abuse experienced by children in care, were highlighted in the inquiry, but the institute previously said issues had been evident on the Cape for years.
The institute provided a submission to the enquiry titled We have to get it right this time, which states the organisation has “seen outcomes in remote Indigenous regions such as Cape York collapse and not only remain by far the worst there are in Australia, but in key areas — such as child protection, youth justice and incarceration — continue to worsen” over more than three decades.
Families mired in “multidimensional disadvantage” commonly experienced the child safety system, youth detention and prison.
Ms Davis said the Queensland Government had a vital window of opportunity to strengthen its response to fix the broken child safety system.
The institute wants to see the government take more decisive action around parental responsibilities, rebuilding families and preventing harm which leads to the child safety system becoming involved.
Ms Davis said Queensland’s response must “address the daily conditions that write harm into family life and bring children to the attention of Child Safety in the first place”.
Cape York Institute CEO Kirsty Davis. Photo: CYI.
“Across Cape York, family integrity is directly undermined by passive welfare, chronic unemployment reaching 80 to 85 per cent in some communities and alcohol expansions that have driven record rates of assault and domestic violence,” she said.
“Queensland Police data backs accounts from Cape York women that alcohol-fuelled violence is the worst they have seen in 20 years.
“In 2025, 1142 women and children were recorded as victims of assault in discrete communities across Cape York, and by late June 2026, 513 women and girls had already been recorded as victims.
“Alcohol management policy and school attendance policy are child safety policy, and children need this government to be strong on adult accountability while shutting down the grog-related harm and drug supply lines feeding family collapse.”
The institute pointed to Productivity Commission data published last week which showed “the magnitude of this regional catastrophe”.
“Far North Queensland carries 20 per cent of all Indigenous children in care and nearly one-third of all harm notifications, despite representing just six per cent of the state’s child population,” Ms Davis said.
The institute has reached out to the government “to refine these reforms and deliver a decisive breakthrough”.
“The government’s first response to the Child Safety Commission of Inquiry report focused downstream on reducing high-cost residential care, relying on administrative processes, cross-agency collaboration and shifting children into adoption or foster placements,” Ms Davis said.
“While the institute strongly supports the government’s commitment to enshrining the best interests of the child as paramount, a paramount-child principle without a mechanism to enforce parental duty is weak.
“The LNP Government was expected to confront harm where it starts, rather than simply getting better at managing the consequences of family breakdown after the damage is done.
“As Queensland faces its third major child safety inquiry since the landmark Forde Inquiry nearly 30 years ago, the crisis continues to escalate.
“The Crisafulli Government has a genuine chance to achieve what past administrations failed by establishing early parental accountability as a core pillar of prevention and matching it with practical support — including the Family Responsibility Commission as the enforcement mechanism, and parenting programs, addiction treatment, and work opportunities for stability.
“By pairing the paramount-child principle with practical, upstream accountability that restores parental duty and rebuilds family strength, the government can break the cycle and keep Queensland children safe in their homes.”
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