Prime Minister called to act on child poverty in South Hedland.

Cain Andrews North West Telegraph

Wed, 2 September 2026 10:38AM

A non-profit is calling on Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to immediately address child poverty in South Hedland, labelling the situation a “national policy failure.”

The Valuing Children Initiative is making the call after speaking to children in South Hedland through its End Child Poverty campaign in collaboration with Hedland’s Youth Involvement Council.

The two groups found children in South Hedland were subject to domestic violence, insecure housing and not having enough to eat and are now preparing take the stories of disadvantaged children in the region to Federal Parliament on September 14.

VCI development executive Sarah Quinton said it was unconscionable that children in South Hedland should live in poverty and go hungry while billions of dollars are extracted from the North West resources hub every year.

“South Hedland illustrates the harsh contradiction at the heart of Australia’s prosperity,” she said.

“Every day, trains carrying millions of dollars of iron ore pass through this region. Right next door, children are telling us they do not always have enough to eat, they are worried about where they will sleep, and they want adults to listen.

“Australia cannot continue to benefit from the wealth of regions like the Pilbara while children in those same communities are living with hunger, housing stress, disrupted education and severe disadvantage.

“That is why we are taking children’s voices from South Hedland directly to Parliament House.

“The Federal Government must act. We need a national, legislated plan that defines child poverty, measures it, reports on it and sets clear targets to reduce it.”

Youth Involvement Council chief executive Tania Murray said the stories of hardship children endure because of poverty were heartbreaking but common.

“Children experiencing financial hardship are often simultaneously experiencing family violence, housing instability, trauma, food insecurity and disrupted education,” she said.

“Children need enough food, safe and stable housing, protection from violence, opportunities to participate in education and community life, trusted adults who listen, culturally safe, community-led support and systems that respond early rather than waiting for crisis.”

In response to questions sent to the Prime Minister’s office, a Department of Social Services spokesperson said the government understood children and families in the Pilbara faced unique barriers.

“All children in Australia deserve the best start to life, wherever they live,” a DSS spokesperson said.

“That’s why we have strong child and family programs, emergency support programs and community-led projects in the area that are working to support and empower families in hardship and give children the best opportunity to thrive.

“Children and families in the area have access to programs designed to improve wellbeing and connection, such as playgroups supporting Indigenous children and families in the Pilbara delivered by Gumala Aboriginal Corporation.”

The DSS spokesperson also pointed to the Commonwealth’s $160 million per year spending to support individuals in financial distress including in the Pilbara helping local organisations deliver food, vouchers, financial counselling and access to no interest loans for essential household items for families in need.

However, Ms Quinton said it was not only South Hedland and the Pilbara where kids were suffering.

She said child poverty across the country had risen sharply over the past four years with one million children set to be living in poverty by the end of 2026.

“This is not just a local issue. It is a national policy failure,” Ms Quinton said. “Child poverty is the result of a failure of systems, and it can be ended through coordinated government action. If we don’t properly count children in poverty, we can’t properly respond.

“Children in South Hedland and others like them should not be invisible in national policy. Their experiences must be heard, measured and acted on.”

The DSS spokesperson also noted the Government’s $230m funding allocation nationwide to tackle entrenched and intergenerational disadvantage nationwide in addition to an $11.5 billion funding injection into the social security safety net including permanently raising JobSeeker and Commonwealth Rent Assistance payments and expanding eligibility for payments to single parents.