A damning report has found children are more at risk of being abused by paedophiles, with 95 per cent of child sex offenders escaping conviction.
The Australian Law Reform Commission has found over the past decade the number of children needing protection has tripled to more than 300,000.
Report author James McDougall sums it up by saying we've let our children down.
"Child protection is just one of those areas, we should be creating environments where our children are better off and protected."
With only five per cent of child sex offenders being convicted, the report has found often families are discouraged from pursuing cases of abuse.
The Federal Government has largely ignored a 1997 study which called for a national Children's Comissioner - only Western Australia has adopted a key recommendation to allow children to give evidence via videotape.