Michael White interviewed by Morag McArthur in the Children and the State oral history project [sound recording]

Michael White talks about his family background; attending University in Tasmania; completing a Masters in Education; becoming the Director of the Lady Gowrie Centre (1987); programs for children with Autism; moving to a position in government in Western Australia; the gender imbalance in child welfare; the move back to Tasmania; working for the Dept. of Community Services; becoming Regional Director for Southern Tasmania; working to unite child welfare with health services; the creation of mega departments in the early 1990s; a public health model of child protection; the Child Protection Act and the Youth Justice Act; the growth of a definition of child protection and statutory intervention; the significance of early prevention in child protection; the move to the A.C.T.; redefining child protection; the impact of mandatory reporting on child welfare; expectations placed on child protection staff; the risk approach to child protection; a major reform of Quamby Detention Centre; the legislation for Child Protection.

White discusses the effectiveness of Inquiries as instruments of reform; the need for more training and an emphasis on education in child care; the relationship between the Commonwealth and the state around children; National early childhood development strategy; the differences in managerial approaches from the 1990s and 2000s; Child Well Being and Safety Act; applying information gained from research; accountability for the education and well being of children taken into care; his last position with the Victorian government as head of the office for children; writing the Victorian Early Learning and Development Framework; the importance of having a vision and being able to articulate it; an assessment of his achievements and his personal style of leadership; the Port Arthur recovery, leadership and disaster recovery; restoring community trust and control; the aftermath of the disaster; supporting the community for the purposes of re-building; his thoughts about greatest professional achievements.