The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare has been collating the national child protection data since 1990-91. These data are provided to the Institute by State and Territory community service departments who have responsibility for child protection matters.

While there are nationally agreed definitions and counting rules used to compile the data, each jurisdiction has their own legislation, policies and practices in relation to child protection which impact on the data they provide to the Institute. The comparability of the data across states and territories is examined and some of the major differences between jurisdictions are highlighted.

It is hoped that changing the method of collecting the data will alleviate some of these problems. At present the data is provided in aggregate format, but this will move to a unit record file collection within the next two years. The development of the national reporting framework and data definitions will be discussed, as will the collections' potential to provide more detailed data for use policy makers and researchers interested in child protection.