Child Protection Department

The Hon. S.E. CLOSE (Port Adelaide—Minister for Education and Child Development, Minister for Higher Education and Skills) (13:13): I seek leave to make a ministerial statement.

Leave granted.

The Hon. S.E. CLOSE: Today, we welcome a significant step in the reform of our child protection system with the new Department for Child Protection beginning operation. The department has been established in response to recommendations from the Child Protection Systems Royal Commission, led by the Hon. Margaret Nyland AM. The chief executive of the department was appointed in September and started work yesterday. I welcome Cathy Taylor into this role.

She comes to our state with a wealth of experience, and I look forward to working with her as we reshape the way we help vulnerable families and, most importantly, the way we protect and nurture our children. Working with the community and the universal services of health and education on prevention and early intervention is a priority. The job of child protection cannot be left to the department on its own. As Minister for Education, I am committed to ensuring that education continues to play its role in supporting vulnerable children.

Improving our out-of-home care system is also critically important, and I am committed to supporting our current carers and increasing the overall numbers of carers in the system. Listening to children and including them in this process is essential. Our front-line workers are doing their best to help our most vulnerable children, and I thank them for the difficult and important work they do. We will need their skills and their empathy as we work to improve this system.

The new department will be responsible for coordinating the implementation of the government's response to the royal commission; partnering with government and non-government agencies to deliver preventative and responsive actions; receiving notifications of abuse and neglect; investigating notifications of abuse and neglect; managing the cases of children that are at risk of harm, are unsafe, neglected or abused; managing and supporting children and young people under the guardianship of the minister; facilitating out-of-home care for the children and young people at risk; and supporting the reuniting of children with their families where it is safe to do so.

So far, 28 recommendations from the Child Protection Systems Royal Commission have been accepted and a further 10 recommendations relating to legislative changes have also been accepted in principle. We have passed legislation to establish a commissioner for children and young people and have begun the recruitment process to fill this important role. The government will continue to work on our formal and detailed response to Commissioner Nyland's report.