Meeting 10 Communiqué - 2 December 2025

The community organisations who attended the meeting included: 

• Antipoverty Centre
• Australian Council of Social Service 
• Brave Foundation
• Brotherhood of St Laurence
• Council of Single Mothers and their Children
• Single Mother Families Australia

The Department provided an update on the Parent Pathways service, reflecting on the achievements and lessons learned over the first 12 months of service delivery. The Department shared the progress the Parent Pathways service has made in this time and reflected on the engagement and communication strategies that have contributed to the growth in the number of active participants. 

The Department covered a range of updates, and gathered feedback from members about:

• Milestones in the first 12 months of service including the number of direct registrations, which have seen consistent growth, supported by strong word-of-mouth referrals and community engagement. 
• Insights from the Parent Snapshot and Goal Plan data, including discussions on improving goal-planning processes to better align with participants’ needs to create a tailored and outcome-driven approach for participants, including where these goals are not education- or employment-focused. 
• Key policy and process updates that reflect the influence of the input received from members throughout the design and implementation of the service. 

In this discussion, members suggested the Department undertake work to understand why eligible participants may choose not to participate in the service, and why participants opt out of the service when they do.

The Department invited members to share their reflections and feedback on the Parents Advisory Group, following almost two years of the operation of the Group and the first 12 months of delivery of the Parent Pathways service. Members provided their reflections and made recommendations for future lived experience advisory groups. 

Members highlighted the important role that a mix of lived-experience voices played in contributing to improvements in the service but also pointed to areas where processes could be strengthened to better support parent representatives to make impactful contributions. While acknowledging some progress over the life of Parent Pathways so far, members emphasised the importance of ensuring that government engagement with lived-experience representatives leads to tangible positive outcomes for participants.

Throughout the meeting, members reiterated ongoing concerns regarding eligibility settings for Parent Pathways and indicated that they would continue advocating for expanded eligibility settings to the Minister and government. This includes increasing the age of the youngest child, exemptions for parents of children with disability and removing the restriction on income earned in the fortnight prior to commencing.

The date of the next meeting has not yet been set but will take place in early 2026.