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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2023-05-16 Daily Xml
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Child Protection Expert Group

Ms CLANCY (Elder) (15:00): My question is to the Minister for Child Protection. How is the government bringing expertise in research, policy and practice together to help drive change in the child protection system in South Australia?

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) (15:01): Thank you to the member for her really important question and also for her enduring interest in the incredibly important area of child protection. I'm sure that almost every member in this place has been called upon to help a community member navigate the complexities of child protection, whether they are a parent, a foster or kinship carer, or a young person themselves.

As members, I think we all appreciate the deeply complex and fundamentally interconnected challenges that families face: intergenerational trauma, mental ill health, poverty, domestic violence and substance misuse. We all rightly appreciate the continuous risk and tension that workers in the system face and the choices they have to make every single day about whether to continue to work to strengthen the family and build parenting capacity or to remove a child.

I'm pleased to report that in line with the specific recommendation of Kate Alexander in her report to government last year, a child protection expert group has been established and its first meeting will be held next week. This group, chaired by national leader in this field Professor Leah Bromfield, brings together 15 government and non-government members from across Australia who have recognised expertise in child protection research, policy and practice.

Supported by robust data and evidence, their aim is to challenge and examine current practice and new ideas to contend with the increasingly complex challenges facing our state's child protection system. Members of the group have been selected based on their recognised expertise in one or more areas, including child abuse prevention, statutory child protection, out-of-home care, assessment and the development of therapeutic responses to people who have experienced abuse and neglect in their own lifetime or indeed across generations.

Expertise may include specialised understanding of the needs of specific and diverse populations or knowledge of different jurisdictions and contexts. The group will report to and be responsible for the provision of expert advice to myself and to our incoming Chief Executive of the Department for Child Protection, Ms Jackie Bray, whom I congratulate on her appointment and look forward to working with.

I have asked the chair to ensure that attention be urgently focused on the issues of cumulative harm as well as neglect and squalor, as highlighted by former police commissioner Mal Hyde in his recommendations. I've also asked that the group contemplate how it can review child deaths.

The expert group, broadly, is tasked with improving child protection response models and quality of practice, working with me to develop and implement the 20-year vision for transforming child protection, enhancing therapeutic responses and targeted interventions, improving out-of-home care support for young people and assisting me with the development of our child protection summit. The core membership of the group may be supplemented through the invitation of others to support a specific area of focus and to attend meetings to present on particular topics.

The government is committed to listening to all stakeholders, and this group will sit alongside the direct experience group and Carer Council, which are being established alongside the other groups we have invested in. To ensure the voices of children and young people are amplified, we have provided an additional $800,000 in funding to the CREATE Foundation, and additional funding has also been provided to Grandcarers SA. I thank the chair and each of the members of the expert group for their ongoing determination to drive reform that helps make a lasting, positive difference in the lives of children and young people.

The SPEAKER: I turn to the Leader of Government Business on a point of order.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: I rise on a point of order on a ruling I have sought from you from the last session of parliament, and I was just wondering if you have made a determination on the offering of opinions in the parliament.

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