Child Protection

Mr ELLIS (Narungga) (14:40): I have a question for the Minister for Child Protection. Can the minister advise foster carers like Penny in my electorate whether they intend to pursue any changes to child protection proposed in the previous parliament, specifically with regard to independent guardianship and an independent complaints process?

The Hon. K.A. HILDYARD (Reynell—Minister for Child Protection, Minister for Women and the Prevention of Domestic and Family Violence, Minister for Recreation, Sport and Racing) (14:40): Thank you very much for the question. It's really great to have a question from a person who is deeply interested in child protection and in carers in their electorate. There are just a couple of things to note in relation to the question.

During the course of the term of the previous government, there were amendments put to the Children and Young People (Safety) Act by the previous minister. Unfortunately, those changes to the act never progressed. The bill was stalled for a couple of years, with a number of members being very frustrated by that. In the course of that debate, one of the issues that carers raised with me was the need for procedural fairness to be afforded to them. I moved that amendment to the act on several occasions; unfortunately, it didn't pass. Members of the upper house also moved those amendments; they didn't pass.

When that bill stalled, we actually had the introduction of a bill by the Hon. John Darley for an inquiry into foster and kinship care. We now have the recommendations from that inquiry, and one of the really important things I want to let the member know about is that one of those recommendations was to establish a carer council who will have responsibility to provide advice about a range of recommendations, a range of improvements for carers. The establishment of that council is very, very close, and I am really happy to keep the member up to date about that because that will be really important in contemplating those many issues that carers raise.

The second part of your question was about guardianship. The member may be aware that we have just completed the first round of extensive consultation about the Children and Young People (Safety) Act. We had an extraordinary number of individuals and organisations provide feedback through that consultation, and one of a range of issues that did arise was issues around guardianship, etc.

We are actively looking at the report from the first round of consultation and what may be of interest to the member is that we are in the process of drafting a bill. That will also go out for extensive consultation and I would be really pleased to brief you on that process and let you know about opportunities for you and your constituents to have input into it. I would be happy to make a time to do that.