Australia's National Plan for Play:

A World-First Framework for Children's Right to Play

Australia, in 2026, is poised to lead the world in developing the first comprehensive national play strategy grounded in children's rights, building on our current strengths and driven by those who know play best through a a cross sectoral representation of stakeholders across the country.

Round 1 of the Play Summits start with Canberra happening on Friday 6th February.

It is time to book into a summit now - follow the links below

First Round of Summits;

follow the links to the booking sites

CANBERRA       Friday 6 February 1- 5pm   

SYDNEY            Wednesday 11 February 1-5pm

MELBOURNE   Thursday 12 February  9 – 1pm

BRISBANE         Monday 16 February  9 – 1 pm

ADELAIDE         Monday 23 Feb ( tbc)  1-5pm   (Dr Naomi Lott will be pre-recorded)

PERTH               Wednesday 25 Feb (tbc)  9 – 1pm   (Dr Naomi Lott will be pre-recorded)

Fee – Delegates  $150 p/p.   Play Australia Members $90p/p. ( GST Inclusive)

Dates for August and October summits to be released in February as soon as venues confirmed.

THIS PROJECT IS AN INITIATIVE OF PLAY AUSTRALIA.

WE APPRECIATE THE SUPPORT OF DELEGATE REGISTRATION FEES IN FUNDING THIS INITIATIVE.

What makes this groundbreaking:

This is not a Government agenda, this is a community agenda.

This is not dependent on the whims of policy priorities by Government,

Through comprehensive national mapping, we will identify and celebrate existing play initiatives across Australia while revealing the gaps that demand urgent attention. This strategy recognizes that play is more than just playgrounds—it encompasses urban planning, design, educations, children’s services, health agencies, playgroups, pop up programs, and the countless ways children engage in self-directed play across diverse settings.

Across Australia, play is thriving in pockets of excellence and innovation. Yet not all children have equal access. For the first time, we will document play deserts—communities where children's access to play is severely limited—and expose patterns of spatial injustice that disproportionately affect our most vulnerable children.

We will use this to plan to drive the development of an action plan for advocacy and engagement from government and philanthropy.

This is more than research. It's a call to action.

Dual-purpose by design:

For the sector: A powerful advocacy tool that gives voice to the critical importance of play, backed by evidence and grounded in children's rights.

For government: A practical planning framework that identifies where investment is needed and provides clear pathways for implementation across local, state, and federal levels.

A collaborative vision:

Sector-driven and evidence-informed, this strategy will position Australia as a global leader in recognizing that play is essential to children's basic developmental and health needs as well as having intrinsic value as a critical element of childhood, centred on a rights based approach to access and acceptance.

Together, we can ensure that every Australian child—regardless of postcode, ability, or circumstance—has access to the play opportunities they need and deserve.

How will be do this?

Commencing in February 2026,  Play Australia will lead a series of summits to drive understanding and engagement of all stakeholder to establish a shared vision and blueprint for progress.

The first round of summits will commence in February 2026 and will feature Dr Naomi Lott. Naomi will be supporting us to look at the UNCRC and the right to play and how we build a framework for play using a rights based approach. We will commence exploring vision and frameworks.  This first set of summits sets the foundation for future work. Naomi will be joined by Play Australia CEO, Robyn Monro Miller who will share her findings from her 8 week Churchill Fellowship looking at international approaches to play policy and strategy across 7 countries and 20 cities.

In August, a second round of Summits will feature more keynotes and champions of play, along with key stakeholders in the Australian play sector. In this series we will be doing a deeper dive into the current state of play in Australia. This will be looking at current initiatives, barriers, mapping the way forward and reviewing our earlier work.

In October, Dr Wendy Russell, will join us from the UK, for a series of events exploring Play Sufficiency and Spatial Justice. Wendy has been a key member of the research team for Play Sufficiency in Wales and England. This will cover what a plan needs to have to be actionable and how we identify and address play deserts.

Each series of summits will drive discussion and develop and formulate more of the strategy – it will be a slow burn to build interest, awareness, knowledge and develop partnerships.  It will be accompanied by focus groups, nationwide surveys and collation of examples of practice that will support and drive change.

We will not have a final plan to consult on until 2026 and it is hoped that whilst this will commence as self-funded, via delegate registrations and in kind provision of services and venues, we will attract sponsors as we proceed.