Two invoices · what Australia pays for the same child, per day · EXP-002
Every day, Australia runs two invoices for the same children.
$3,635
detention, national avg per child per day
$424
community supervision, per child per day
$1.14bn
a year detaining 860 children
$520m
a year supervising 3,358 in community
provenance
The same child, two prices
These are the government's own numbers.
Every state runs two responses to a child in trouble: a bed in a detention centre, or supervision in their community. The Productivity Commission publishes what each costs, every year, per child, per day. Set them side by side and they read like receipts.
Invoice A · one day in detention
secure bed, staffing, food✓
education inside the fence✓
distance from family and countryincluded
connection to community—
National avg / day$3,634.90
Invoice B · one day on community supervision
caseworker, order supervision✓
school, family, home unchanged✓
community programs within reach✓
a locked door—
National avg / day$423.56
State by state
No state pays less than 5 times more for detention. South Australia pays 32 times more.
community figure not published
Reading these numbers fairly
These are the government's own per-day costs for its own two responses to the same child. They are not the cost of any community organisation's program, and detention and supervision are not interchangeable for every child on every order. What the gap shows is the price of the system's default, not a menu.
860 children · $1.14bn
average daily detention population, and what a year of it costs
3,358 children · $520m
on community supervision, for less than half the money
Where invoice A is paid
Eighteen operating facilities. Community programs work within reach of nearly all of them.
Each facility below is a door: it opens to the map of verified community organisations working nearby. Within reach does not mean substitute; it means the alternative exists and is fundable.
The door