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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2021-05-12 Daily Xml
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Grievance Debate

Youth Death, Port Lincoln

Ms HILDYARD (Reynell) (15:20): I rise today deeply saddened by the horrific events that unfolded yesterday in Port Lincoln. I offer my love and condolences to the loved ones of the child who tragically lost his life and to the two boys who were faced with, and will continue to deal with, the most heartbreaking of situations. I pray that they and all their loved ones have the support they need as they face the difficult days, weeks, months and years ahead.

Our whole community, particularly community members in Port Lincoln, are deeply shocked by what unfolded yesterday and deeply concerned that three children aged 11, 12 and 13 felt the need to find their place to rest in an industrial bin, not safely indoors, not warm and surrounded by loved ones. They are right to be concerned because children should never feel that that is their best or only option.

These tragic circumstances fill us all with sorrow. They are deeply unacceptable and a call to action to discover why on earth these children were asleep in a bin and what can and must be done to better support vulnerable children, their families and communities.

Our child protection system is in crisis with record numbers of children in care, children constantly going missing, a staffing crisis, foster carers feeling undervalued, and far from enough prevention and early intervention programs to meet need. In the Budget and Finance Committee less than a fortnight ago, we heard that staffing numbers are so bad in residential care homes that the department cannot honour its MOU with SAPOL to look for missing children.

Despite the minister's assertions today, department figures show that more than 10,000 missing person reports concerning children in state care were made in just 12 months, up from 8,968 the previous year. Our community is horrified and deserves to have questions answered about these tragic circumstances. They must be reassured that more will be done to ensure nothing like this ever happens again.

Questions that shine a light on what must change must be responded to. Vulnerable children and their families and communities deserve these questions to be responded to. Had anyone been alerted to the fact that these children were missing? Who was alerted? What circumstances were these children in in the lead-up to the early hours of yesterday morning? Had concerns been raised about these children, and how and by whom were these concerns acted upon and when?

Were these children in contact with the Department for Child Protection? Were there enough staff to appropriately and fully respond to any concerns raised about the safety and wellbeing of these children? Were any shifts in the DCP Port Lincoln operations uncovered? Had any reports been made to the Child Abuse Report Line about these children's wellbeing? Was it one of the calls amongst the 14,500-odd that so sadly went unanswered, unheard and unresponded to last year?

All children, including children who may be in care, must be supervised and safe. This means someone knowing where they are, what they are doing and who they are with. When children are unsupervised, when they go missing, they are vulnerable. Despite this stark reality, the minister has not acquiesced to the Guardian for Children and Young People's request for a community visitor scheme for children in care. She has not implemented Nyland recommendation 150 to ensure there are always two staff members in residential care homes.

Productivity Commission figures show South Australian children are going into care in record numbers, and this contributes to the staffing crisis currently gripping DCP. Despite this, the minister's department underspent $10 million on staffing in the last financial year, and she continues to ignore the enormous pressure on staff and the impact on the care afforded children most needing support that this staffing crisis causes.

The minister continues to ignore the many generous foster and kinship carers who repeatedly express dissatisfaction with the way they are treated by this government. We have repeatedly called on the minister to urgently address the systemic issues impacting child protection in South Australia. It is absolutely past time that this minister acts.

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