Not in a crisis – but are we listening?

For decades, Australia has told itself a comforting story. That we are a fair society. That every child gets a chance. That the system, imperfect as it is, looks after its most vulnerable.

But the evidence tells a different story. Children in solitary confinement. Aboriginal kids caught in a justice system stacked against them from the start. Young people sentenced under laws designed for adults. A childcare system rocked by sexual abuse. And a political class reaching for tougher penalties when the research points the other way.

Into this landscape steps Deb Tsorbaris – Australia’s new National Children’s Commissioner – with a mandate to listen to children, speak uncomfortable truths to power, and push back against the tide of punitive politics with something more powerful: evidence.

She says we are not in a youth crime crisis. So why does it feel like one? And what would it take to build a country where every child’s rights are genuinely upheld – not just promised?

Rev. Bill Crews sits down with Deb Tsorbaris for a conversation about justice, family, and what Australia owes its children.

The Discussion. Available now.