Child Protection Department

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS (Black—Leader of the Opposition) (16:15): My question is to the Premier. How many children are in out-of-home care in South Australia? With your leave, sir, and that of the house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: During the estimates committee on 21 June, the minister indicated that she was aware of the number of children in out-of-home care at that date but she would not disclose it.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Premier) (16:15): Child protection is an important public policy area. That is why I am so grateful that the member for Reynell, the Minister for Child Protection, has been working incredibly hard on a range of different reforms in the area.

Since coming to government, we have been very keen to put into action our sentiments that we expressed in opposition that child protection needed more resources, and that is why I am very pleased to be able to inform the house that there has been an additional $450 million, that is to say almost half a billion dollar investment, into child protection in the short two and a bit years since being in government.

I am going to read out some statistics that go to the Leader of the Opposition's question but I preface that by saying stats in child protection really do a disservice because they can serve the function of putting a number in place of a face when of course we are talking about children, which is pretty important. There are 508 children who are completing a family group conference, who are currently getting the benefit of a success rate of 92 per cent. As a government, we have identified family group conferencing as being a pretty important tool that, best deployed, can provide better outcomes for children and their families but also a better outcome really in the long term for taxpayers. That is why we have invested in family group conferencing and we have started to see some results of that really exceed expectations in many respects.

Those sorts of efforts have contributed to a slowing of growth of the number of children in care that we have seen evidence of in recent months. More carers in the system are there, though, than in any other point in the past, and there are 115 new foster carers approved from this financial year to 31 May.

I would also make the point that on the back of that $400-plus million investment, there are now an additional 200 full-time equivalent staff working within the Department for Child Protection. I don't think you could characterise these people as paper-pushing bureaucrats. These are people who are in majority terms well and truly working on the frontline, trying to provide assistance to families in the most difficult of circumstances.

We often appropriately recognise and herald the work of our nurses, our doctors, our police officers and fireys and ambos and so forth, really public-facing often uniform-wearing public servants. But sitting behind all that, there are hundreds of people who work in the Department for Child Protection who pretty much never get any recognition. They only face the prospect of being pilloried for decisions they have made, either in the public realm or even more confrontingly with the families they are engaging with who are suffering really difficult circumstances on their own. But we are pleased, I guess in one way, to assist in trying to lighten the load, notwithstanding the demand on the system, by having another 200 full-time equivalent staff in the sector. In last year's budget—

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: Point or order, sir: the Premier was asked about the number of children in care in South Australia. I didn't hear that amongst the statistics. I apologise if I was mistaken, but with such little time left, I ask him to get to the key question.

The SPEAKER: I think the Premier is dealing with the question in his answer.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: To the specificity of this, I am advised that the growth in the number of children in care was escalating at 9 per cent during the period of the former government. In the month of April 2024, we actually see a decline in the number of children in care by 0.2 per cent, which is obviously a sign of improvement, and that is what we want to maintain.