The Cost of Late Intervention

How Australia can invest in children and return more presents the opportunity for wise investments in evidence-based early intervention to radically change outcomes for Australian children and young people.

Our report reveals that Australian governments are spending $15.2 billion each year on high-intensity and crisis services for problems that may have been prevented had we invested earlier and more wisely.

How Australia can invest in children and return more is one of the first Australian studies to analyse the cost of intervening late in areas that affect children and young people’s quality of life.

The partnership
It is the result of a partnership between five organisations representing research, not-for-profit, philanthropy and business.
A shared view
We are aligned around a shared view that children are the foundation of a cohesive society, a strong economy and a prosperous Australia.
Early intervention
Early intervention can mean more young people have the best possible start in life while Australian governments maximise the impact of their spending with flow-on benefits to taxpayers.
A social and economic priority
Ensuring children and young people have access to effective, targeted early intervention (including services and programs) and effective support is a social and economic priority for Australia.

The report provides a baseline analysis of late intervention spending in Australia. It uses publicly available Australian data to calculate annual government expenditure on late intervention services for children and young people aged 0-24.

The partnership that delivered the report was initiated by CoLab – Collaborate for Kids (a partnership of the Minderoo Foundation and Telethon Kids Institute). The analysis was led by the Early Intervention Foundation and co-authored with The Front Project. It draws on the Early Intervention Foundation’s method and approach to measuring the cost of late intervention in England and Wales.