Child Protection

The Hon. C. BONAROS (15:05): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Deputy Premier a question regarding deaths of children in South Australia.

Leave granted.

The Hon. C. BONAROS: On 5 October 2022, my office lodged a FOI request seeking access to data on the number of deaths of children known to the South Australian Department for Child Protection between 2019 and 2022. Those in this chamber who have followed The Advertiser's 'Save the Kids' campaign may already be aware of the devastating figures coming out of that request: 58 children, either in state care or known to the department. In 2023, three children living in state care and 14 known to the system died.

DCP's latest annual report for 2024-25 confirms the death of nine children known to authorities. However, an article appearing in today's Advertiser reveals that a further nine children in contact with DCP have died this year since 1 July, bringing the state tally to 18 deaths in less than 18 months. According to the DCP chief executive, 12 of those children were aged under 10 and most were known to authorities rather than living in state care, and 14 were believed to be the result of medical issues or an unknown cause.

The department has stated publicly that these figures do not establish that a child's contact with the system was a causative factor in their death. That has not been disputed. Any one death of a child is a death too many. My questions to the Deputy Premier are:

1. Is he concerned about the questions these tragic and alarming statistics give rise to in the absence of more de-identified details?

2. Does the Deputy Premier acknowledge concerns around the lack of detail provided and the shadow this continues to cast on DCP?

3. Will the Deputy Premier undertake to raise this issue with his cabinet with a view to considering additional publicly appropriate reporting by the Interagency Child Death Review Panel?

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Deputy Premier, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Attorney-General, Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector, Special Minister of State) (15:07): I thank the honourable member for her question. As she has pointed out, and I think all of us would share the view, the death of any child or young person is a tragedy and a concern for all of us. In some cases it is a failing of some systems, and we no doubt feel very deeply for the families, friends, and carers, in a lot of cases, of young people.

I am advised that most of the children contained within the numbers are young people, certainly in the last year, who were not under guardianship at the time of their death. The honourable member mentioned the Interagency Child Death Review Panel, which I am informed reviews all deaths of children and young people who were either in care or known to the department within the 12-month period before the death of the child. In relation to, I think, de-identifying reporting, I am happy to raise that with colleagues to see if there is anything further that can be done.