HANSARD
SITTING CALENDAR
SEARCH
LIVE BROADCAST
Hansard Dynamic Subject Index
Legislative Council - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2024-06-19 Daily Xml
Contents
Xml

Child Protection

The Hon. T.A. FRANKS (22:43): I move:

That this council—

1. Recognises that in its current form, the Children and Young People (Safety) Act remains primarily a framework for child removal, rather than a holistic document for promoting the best interests of children and young people in South Australia;

2. Expresses its concerns regarding the lack of adequate, appropriate, and consistent funding and resources received by South Australian foster and kinship carers, adversely impacting their ability to provide quality care;

3. Notes the Malinauskas government's election promise to prioritise child safety and welfare through legislative and policy changes; and

4. Calls on the Malinauskas government to introduce legislation to amend the Children and Young People (Safety) Act, prioritising the best interests of children and young people in South Australia.

I first gave notice of this motion at the end of the year last year. I did so to remind the Malinauskas government and the Malinauskas government minister, Minister Hildyard, of the commitments they made with respect to child protection before the 2022 election. I did so because a significant number of those who provide care for children in the child protection system had raised their concerns with myself and with other members of this parliament as to why the minister seemed to have gone MIA in regard to legislation to update the act.

When I say 'go MIA' that is because there was a legislative review of the Children and Young People (Safety) Act. That review took place in the year 2022. We are now in June 2024. Perhaps the review took a long time. Perhaps the minister has only just received the report. Oh no, while the review was actually quite thorough and, indeed, very well participated in, the minister has had the report of the review since February 2023—not February 2024, this year, February 2023, some 16 months now. It has been 16 months in her in-tray, 16 months for those people who participated in the review waiting for that promised legislative response from this minister.

I understand child protection is not an easy portfolio. Child protection is one of the most difficult portfolios. However, the Malinauskas government came to government promising legislative reform and have not yet delivered on that promise. So, some six months ago I gave notice of this motion because even in their term of government following the receipt of the review documents in February 2023, the government had updated their promise that they would legislate by the end of the year, 2023.

The date that I gave notice of this motion was the timeframe that the government themselves, once in government and having had the document for the better part of an entire year, had actually set themselves as a timeframe for introducing legislation to reform our broken child protection system. We debate this motion tonight to hold the government to account not just for their election promises but for their promises once in government, which have been broken.

You may not think that these are issues that are easy, issues that perhaps require more time to debate, but there are urgent issues that have been identified in the review that carers are desperately waiting for this government to act on. When Minister Hildyard was the shadow minister, she promised she would deliver on them.

I wish to focus in particular in regard to something that many carers have called for. Certainly, I thank the work of both The Carer Project and Connecting Foster and Kinship Carers SA. Commitment No. 5 prior to the state election that Connecting Foster and Kinship Carers requested of the Malinauskas government was to 'amend the Children and Young People (Safety) Act 2017 SA to include procedural fairness and care concerns as a prescribed function'. Procedural fairness: that is what we are still without two years into the Malinauskas government, something that had already well established itself as a pressing concern.

I remind members of this council and the minister of the Stephanie Richards article of 1 December 2022, which is entitled '"Guilty until proven innocent": Calls to reform foster carer investigations'. Ms Richards then wrote:

South Australian foster and kinship carers have reported being stood down or forced to resign from their jobs while concerns about their parenting are investigated by child protection authorities, prompting calls for an independent review process.

The article goes on to read:

The state's peak foster carer advocacy group Connecting Foster and Kinship Carers SA claims one husband and wife carer couple who worked as a teacher and school principal were stood down for years—

for years—

while an investigation took place into a care concern notice, resulting in 'devastating personal and professional consequences'.

The organisation also stated that:

…another carer was stood aside from emergency services officer duties, while a different carer was forced to resign from a pre-school board while under investigation.

Care concerns, of course, are reports filed by anyone who might think that there could be something happening within the home of a child in state care that could be detrimental to their safety. They are assessed currently by the Department for Child Protection, and in some cases they refer that to a care concerns investigation unit for further scrutiny.

Indeed, the care concerns against carers are investigated by the department themselves, and countless constituents, and also the organisations that represent these good people who put themselves up to care for those children in child protection, complain about the lack of procedural fairness and transparency around care concerns and the investigation of care concerns. What this means is we are actually setting these carers up to fail if we do not at least provide them with that procedural fairness and an independent investigation process.

It is something that was raised prior to the state election with the Malinauskas government, and it was something that seemingly the Malinauskas government was going to address. Indeed, it features quite highly in that review document that has been in the minister's in-tray since February 2023—16 months ago. In the past 16 months, there have been many care concerns lodged, and not a single one of those carers has been able to afford themselves a truly independent investigation process and procedural fairness.

This is how this state currently treats those carers, yet they have the audacity to go on recruitment drives when they cannot even give them the basics of respect. The Carer Project recently did a survey of their carers—and have written to not just the minister but the chief executive as well, as well as a committee of the other place—and of over 400 carers in the survey, when asked the question, 'Do you trust and have confidence in the DCP?' only 4.43 per cent answered yes and 95.5 per cent answered no. These are the people we require, we laud, we hope to recruit and retain, and less than 5 per cent of them have trust in the department.

Is it any wonder, with the inaction of this minister to address a basic—basic—demonstration of respect for their efforts and for their extraordinary commitment to making the world a better place for children, of course, who are often traumatised and situations that are very difficult and very arduous in many cases?

They take on these children and they provide loving homes, and they do something that the state simply could not do—and in many cases should not do, because we still have far too many kids in resi care, which we should not have. This minister, through her inaction, has simply shown them contempt.

That is why at the end of the year in 2023, I gave notice of this motion. I will say that in recent months and weeks I have had carers come to me with horror stories about the way the department treats them, about how they do not have procedural fairness and about how 'computer says no' can leave them with a completely unjustified blemish in their records, which hangs over their heads and which they have no way of addressing through any fair and transparent measure.

I note that in May this year, at the Budget and Finance Committee of this council, I asked the chief executive, Ms Bray, whether or not she was aware of these issues around concerns about a lack of an independent complaints process. To that, she was aware, and in particular was aware of the petition which had been started for the need for an independent complaints mechanism, that has been signed so far by over 400 carers.

To my knowledge, Minister Hildyard has not responded to that petition yet. Perhaps the government benches will update us on whether or not that correspondence has now been addressed. I look forward to perhaps that small increment of change, but I certainly will not be holding my breath. I would note that Ms Bray, the chief executive, in the absence of legislation to reform this important area, to give respect and procedural fairness to carers, was very well aware of the issues and stated:

I am aware of that, and the complaints process has been brought to my attention by a number of carers who I spoke to both individually and at forums. While those considerations have been met by government, what I have done to satisfy myself is I have moved the complaints process out of an area within the department which could be perceived as a conflict—it was within our service delivery and practice area—and it is sitting right outside my office now in the office of the chief executive, just to satisfy myself that the handling and inquiry into complaints is further removed from the service delivery aspect.

It was an extraordinary response. The chief executive has moved the office of where the investigations are undertaken to next door to her office within the department, without any procedural fairness, without any independence, and she thinks that that is her interim solution.

In some ways, I cannot blame her, because what legislative recourse does she have? She does not have an act that allows her to serve carers with an independent complaints process, because the minister has not yet acted to ensure an independent complaints process to give carers procedural fairness.

There were so many issues raised in the consultation, and indeed it was an incredibly thorough process, which is why so many people have been asking, for well over a year now: what is going on? Why do we not have a piece of legislation before the parliament? When is this minister actually going to reform the act, as they were led to believe when the Malinauskas government was in opposition that the Malinauskas government would do in government?

Nine hundred people engaged with that review. There were eight metro and eight regional forums. Over 300 people registered to attend, and there were 83 written responses and 102 survey responses. There is quite an extensive document and, again, it goes through a range of areas for reform. It definitely identifies and overwhelmingly supports having an independent grievance process. It also looks to timely decision-making, and in the review report it states:

Decision-making can be complex in a child protection context. A first principle of intervention in the CYPS Act is that decisions and actions be taken in a timely manner and, particularly in the case of young children, should be made as early as possible to promote permanence and stability.

Timely decision-making is generally considered to be in the interests of the child, though the review acknowledges that what this looks like might change depending on the individual needs and circumstances of the child and their family.

The review report states:

We asked if changes to the legislation could improve the timeliness of child protection decision-making in a way that would support better outcomes for children and young people.

The importance of timely decision-making, including concerns about the impacts of delays in court processes, came up frequently in the public consultation.

Some stakeholders suggested the Act needed to make clear the expected timeframes for court processes and orders. We heard specific advocacy for the reintroduction of assessment orders available under the previous Children’s Protection Act, as well as suggestions to limit the number of adjournments.

With a quote from a practitioner:

[There needs to be] some parameters to ensure that cases can’t be in court for prolonged periods of time, as this provides unacceptable delays for children in decision-making.

Again, a very simple amendment to the act that would have big repercussions in a positive way for better outcomes for these most vulnerable of children, and in supporting those we expect to care for them.

Again, in recent weeks, I have received correspondence from those who have been involved in care arrangements and contested care arrangements where a child has been removed, and they have been sent correspondence that is giving them dates to appeal the decision that are, in fact, prior to the date that they receive the correspondence. Again, where is the procedural fairness? When an administrative error such as that impacts the life of a young child, surely the minister needs to get that review report out of her inbox and get some legislation before this parliament.

The time is late. It is a very late evening of sitting tonight, and I understand that, so while I could actually go through a whole range of other concerns, they are the ones I wish to focus on because I think allowing carers procedural fairness, and addressing administrative issues of process, is surely the least that this minister could have done in the 16 months she has had to respond to those hundreds of people and organisations who made contributions to improve this act.

She has not brought a piece of legislation to this place, and I do note that the Greens will, and did give notice today, so it is not yet on the Notice Paper, so I am not beyond the rules of parliament to address it. We will move for an independent grievance process, and I have a private member's bill to effect just that.

It did not need an extraordinary level of parliamentary counsel drafting expertise. In fact, it did not have all of the machinery of government, and the public servants there to put it together, and so I point out that the minister has had 16 months to do her job, and if she does not do her job this motion is just the first of many where the parliament will do her job for her to protect children and to protect and support carers in this system, this system that is broken and does need to be fixed.

If the minister wants to talk about the threshold for mandatory reporting as an excuse in the future, I note and I draw her attention to the threshold issues that have been addressed in almost every other jurisdiction of this country, that are identified in the review report, that have had great debate publicly, that she could have also brought in legislation to fix by now, but she has not.

The opposition no doubt will say that we need a standalone child protection minister, and they probably will say that perhaps this minister spends more time at photo ops than follow-ups. I am old-fashioned; I would like a competent and efficient minister who can multitask. If it is not this minister, then I suspect the Malinauskas government needs to get another minister to take the reins of this portfolio if they do not wish to see this parliament show no confidence in the broader government as well as this minister. With that, I commend the motion.

The Hon. L.A. HENDERSON (23:05): I rise tonight to support the honourable member's motion. The opposition have time and time again called for a standalone child protection minister, someone who will be solely focused on vulnerable South Australian children and the child protection system, which is in crisis under this minister, but these calls have fallen on deaf ears. When the Premier had the opportunity at the recent cabinet reshuffle to ensure that there was a standalone child protection minister, the Premier instead appointed an assistant minister for junior sport participation, giving Minister Hildyard more support in her sports portfolio. This tells you all you need to know about this government's priorities.

Today, I stand here again, like a broken record, calling for this portfolio to be given the attention that it needs and the attention that it deserves. The need for this change, for a dedicated minister with a standalone portfolio, is only personified by the minister's inaction in delivering the needed changes to the Children and Young People (Safety) Act.

This minister is failing to reach her own set targets. In the 2023-24 budget, this budget right here—the minister may remember it; I will provide the budget line to her here to jog her memory in case she has forgotten—under Targets 2023-24 it included, and I quote, 'Introduce amendments to support changes to the Children and Young People (Safety) Act 2017'. If we fast-forward to this year's budget, 2024-25, what do we see? Yes, we see, 'Introduce changes to the Children and Young People (Safety) Act 2017'.

This is entirely unacceptable. This minister has not delivered on her own self-imposed target. I will add that this is not the only target that she has not met from the 2023-24 budget too. The minister has been sitting on the final report for the review of this act since February 2023—not 2024 but February 2023. For over a year she has been sitting on this report. What has this minister been focusing her time and her attention on, because clearly she has not delivered on her own self-imposed KPI to deliver this crucial piece of legislation? Surely, this just displays that there is a real need for a standalone minister, if she is not able to meet her own targets.

But what is a failed target? Give the minister an assistant minister for her sports portfolio. I guess we can just add it to the failings of the Malinauskas government, shall we? After all, we are talking about a Labor government that promised to fix the ramping crisis and told voters to 'Vote Labor like your life depends on it, because it just might.' Do you know what? The ramping crisis is far, far worse under your leadership.

With the child protection system in crisis, you would think, you would hope, that the minister would prioritise this legislation and make tangible outcomes in this space. It should not take the crossbench, it should not take the opposition, to call on this government to introduce legislation to amend the Children and Young People (Safety) Act, to prioritise the best interests of children and young people in South Australia. It should already be done.

The minister knows what she needs to do; she knows this needs to be done. It has been a target for two out of three of the budgets that have been delivered by this government since they have been elected.

I have met with many involved in this space—stakeholders, organisations, carers and families—and it has been absolutely heartbreaking to hear what is going on and the lack of support that they have told me they have been provided with. I have heard some stories about carers relying on charities like Foodbank to ensure that children are fed. Why is this the case? It is entirely unacceptable.

Carers are telling me it is a matter of financial support. We keep hearing about the cost-of-living crisis, and we know that there are so many in our community who are feeling the pinch at the moment. Carers are no different. This government is not meeting them in the middle, and this year's budget measures are a clear example of a government that is not listening and this, ultimately, is at the cost of vulnerable children.

I believe that carers are doing their best, and we would be so lost without them. I am incredibly grateful for the so many of them who have come to speak to me to share their stories with me and spend countless, countless hours advocating for changes for vulnerable South Australian children. It is on the government to make sure that they fix this problem—that they find solutions and deliver support for our carers.

I have lost count of how many times they, too, have mentioned the great anticipation for this legislation and the much needed changes that come along with that; how many times they have spoken to me about the lack of support for carers, about the need for a stand-alone child protection minister, about the desire for an independent complaints process and about the desperate need for reform in this crucial space.

Some of the stories I have heard would break your heart. These children in care cannot afford to continuously be put on the backburner and wait for significant change. They need it now. It is my real hope that this minister does some soul-searching and does some serious work in this space during the parliamentary break and comes back in August with this bill.

The minister only has a full seven scheduled sitting weeks left to deal with this bill. The time is on; South Australian children cannot wait and the minister cannot afford to either. Seeing as this government loves to focus on sport so much, perhaps I can put it this way: minister, you have not even made it to the field yet. It is half-time and there is not a lot left to go.

The Hon. B.R. HOOD (23:12): I rise to speak to this critical motion from the Hon. Tammy Franks. It is hard to fathom a more crucial duty for our state government than to ensure the safety, security and wellbeing of our most vulnerable children, and yet the current state of our child protection system is nothing short of a national disgrace. The system is broken and the children of South Australia are paying the price.

When I came into this place, I thought I was going to be a voice for the regions, but I have had the privilege of meeting so many of our state's dedicated foster and kinship carers in my very short time in this place—individuals who have opened their hearts and their homes to the care of children in need. I am thankful for every single one of them.

Many of them are actually quite afraid to be named because of this department's brokenness, but I am thankful to The Carer Project's Lisa O'Malley and Joyce Woody for their impassioned advocacy and deep knowledge in this space. It is the dedication of foster carers like Lisa and Joyce and the dozens of others I have met that is inspiring, but all too often their stories are heart-wrenching. They reveal a system riddled with bureaucracy, neglect and outright disregard for the welfare of children and the carers who support them.

The current Minister for Child Protection, the Hon. Katrine Hildyard, has demonstrated nothing but a shocking dereliction of duty. It is an insult to the people of South Australia that while she is now assisted in her portfolio of sport, rec and racing, no such support has been provided for the critical area of child protection. This prioritisation speaks volumes about this government's misplaced values.

Child protection should be the minister's top priority. It should be the minister's top priority. Irrespective of whether you are competent or not, it is the top priority. Instead, we have a minister more focused on attending sporting events and riding around on a scooter than addressing the dire issues within her most pressing portfolio. This negligence is not just a failure of responsibility; it is a betrayal of the children who depend on the state, and on this minister and the chief executive, for their safety and their future.

The promises that were made during the election campaign have well and truly been broken. Prior to the election two years ago, the member for Reynell, now the child protection minister, pledged to the peak body that, and I quote:

If the child protection system is going to do the job the community expects of it, it must be open for scrutiny and the people most involved—the children and the carers—must be able to speak up.

There is another broken promise from that same letter, and I quote:

A Malinauskas Labor government will legislate faster response by the government to complaints from carers…to ensure complaints processes are effective.

The Malinauskas government pledged a review of the Children and Young People (Safety) Act 2017, and yet we have seen no such review. Dr Arney's Independent Inquiry into Foster and Kinship Care report recommendations do not meet the carers' expectations for meaningful change. While an independent Carer Council has been established, this was not sought after by any carer whom I have met with. Additionally, a number of those on the Carer Council are either employed in the child protection sector or, shockingly, are employed directly by the department itself.

It is clear from the terms of reference for the independent inquiry that the department's complaints management processes were a prominent reason for its commissioning. Dr Arney's November 2022 report extensively documents the concerns of carers about the current system, and her first six recommendations specifically refer to the processes that will improve current inadequacies. But, as the minister confirmed to me in writing in February this year, the minister does not support an independent complaints mechanism. This was even news to the peak body, Connecting Foster and Kinship Carers, when I met with them more than six weeks later. Talk about openness and transparency.

In addition to establishing a proper and arms-length complaints process, carers also raised with me the need for carers to have standing in court, the need for respite entitlements to be legislated, the necessity for an increase in base rate payments to keep up with the cost of living and the need for the Child Death and Serious Injury Review Committee to report and collect data on serious injuries.

Instead of genuine reform and review, we have a system more focused on child removal and exploiting foster and kinship carers than on promoting the best interests of children and young people. While the government should have acted two years ago, it must take decisive action now to progress the reforms that were promised and to prioritise the holistic welfare of our children.

Financially, the mismanagement is staggering. Each child placed into residential care costs taxpayers in this state over $500,000 a year. In contrast, foster and kinship care, which provides exceptionally better outcomes for children, is far more cost-effective. The failure to support these carers adequately not only wastes taxpayer money but also diminishes the life prospects of the children involved. These carers, treated like second-class citizens, deserve better support and recognition for their invaluable contributions.

One of the key issues driving carers away is the unbearable financial burden placed upon them. Carers have described this situation as financial extortion, leaving them unable to continue their critical voluntary duties. These people are, for all intents and purposes, volunteers. The government must overcome these financial strains, they must provide adequate support to retain and recruit more foster and kinship carers. If this does not happen, more children will end up in costly and less effective residential care.

The minister's engagement with carers has been abysmal. Carers have been ignored, their concerns left unaddressed and essential supplies delayed for months. The minister's lack of action and misleading responses have further eroded trust. This is unacceptable and it must change. Foster and kinship carers should not have to wait for months for essential safety equipment, for disability supports and for medical supplies.

The minister and her chief executive appear to engage selectively and then fail to act, leaving carers and children in precarious situations. This lack of responsiveness, this lack of transparency is a profound failure of leadership. It is a direct contradiction of the statement of commitment that crystallises how those involved in the care of our state's most vulnerable children should act.

This government must get serious about protecting children. It must get serious about supporting those who care for them. It is high time to appoint a standalone child protection minister, one who can solely focus on this critical issue. It is high time to appoint a competent one. The last thing this state needs is an assistant minister for the bread and circuses of the Malinauskas government.

The current minister's divided attention and action is not acceptable. Our children and their carers deserve better. They deserve a better system that works, they deserve a government that listens and they deserve a leader who acts. Nothing else is acceptable.

The Hon. C. BONAROS (23:22): I rise to support this motion wholeheartedly and to echo the sentiments that have been expressed across the political divide today on this issue. I might just reflect on what the Hon. Tammy Franks said at the beginning; that is, that this might be one of the more difficult portfolios but surely, in addition to being one of the most difficult, it is also one of the most important portfolios that exists in government. It is the most important because it deals with our most vulnerable kids.

If you need a reminder of just how vulnerable those kids are who are the subject of this portfolio, then I remind you of the tragic event that resulted in the death of a little boy in May 2021 in Port Lincoln. I also remind you of at least six coronial inquests since 2010 into the deaths of Chloe Valentine, Ebony Napier, Heidi Singh, Amber Rigney, Korey Mitchell and, of course, Zhane Chilcott and the review of two further deaths: Charlie Nowland and Makai Wanganeen—a report found that at the time there were 500 kids in SA living in high-risk situations.

I remember when that report came out, and the very immediate response we had from the minister and the Premier about everything we were going to do to address that very high-risk situation that those kids were living in. Frankly, we have not seen much from this minister, and what I find most bitterly disappointing about the way that the minister has conducted herself in this is the benefit that we have all given her to get this right. That is disappointing, and I am sure I am not the only one with that frustration when the minister says, 'We're nearly there, we're nearly there, we're nearly there,' and here we are, 16 months later, and we are nowhere near there.

We have another budget in front of us. I had to search the budget paper really closely for funds that would deal with the issue of child protection. I found one paragraph in amongst the 'Supporting communities' page, which talked about $70 million that would be allocated in 2023-24. That was $70 million going towards kids in out-of-home care in additional resources. It is not money that is going into services for kids: it is money that is going towards where 75 per cent of the child protection budget goes, and that is keeping kids out of their homes, in residential care and out-of-home care.

We know there are extraordinary people who do extraordinary things: Connecting Foster and Kinship Carers, Grandcarers SA and, of course, The Carer Project. There are issues that divide those groups—there are absolutely issues that divide those groups—but the one thing that unites them unanimously is their shared frustration with this government in terms of its response to the needs of not just foster carers and kinship carers but the kids that we are talking about, the kids they are looking after.

All of us have come in here and stood time and again and spoken about this issue, and we have a minister who just says, 'Trust me, I'm getting there. Trust me, something is coming.' When we talk about the announcements, I do not think I see a week go by where I do not see an announcement by this minister. Generally speaking, there is lots of noise by this minister. Have a look at all the announcements this minister has made since budget day. I saw one on child protection, but I saw lots about sports vouchers—fantastic. I saw lots about sports vouchers, I saw lots about sporting activities. There is racing in there and everything else that she focuses her time on except the state's most vulnerable kids, and that is her core work.

I know this government loves this affinity for sporting activities, and it is popular—people love sports, that is great—but you have the wrong minister doing both jobs, because her core focus seems to be on what is popular. Her core focus is on all the stuff like riding scooters down North Terrace. I would like to see her meeting with carers on the steps of Parliament House, as opposed to riding scooters down there and telling us what she is going to do about that. I would just like a response from her that we have waited for for as long as other members have indicated—16 months—and that is utterly unacceptable.

In a letter dated 16 March 2022—I do not need to remind anyone what that date that was—Katrine Hildyard MP, member for Reynell, and I will quote the letter, wrote to the Chief Executive Officer of Connecting Foster and Kinship Carers SA, stating:

Dear Fiona

Thank you very much for what your organisation does to ensure South Australia's most vulnerable children are protected and enabled to thrive.

Every South Australian child being loved, safe, and healthy matters to Labor and to the South Australian community. A child's starting point should never limit their future.

Labor understands that collaborative, concerted effort across government and the community is needed to ensure the safety, health and wellbeing of South Australian children.

A Malinauskas Labor government will focus on improving the lives of South Australian children by putting the welfare of children at the centre of our decision making and actions. In doing so, Labor is prepared to tackle some of the most difficult and complex social issues impacting children and their families, in partnership with children, their families and their communities.

Our actions on child protection will include:

Giving Children A Voice

Labor will improve advocacy and support for children and young people in care and leaving care. If the child protection system is going to do the job the community expects of it, it must be open for scrutiny and the people most involved—the children and the carers—must be able to speak up.

They are speaking up, alright. They are speaking up about all the things in this letter that the government and the minister, who has made these pledges herself, have not done. Continuing:

A Malinauskas Labor government will:

Invest in the Create Foundation to work with children and young people in care to identity and develop future housing, work and study pathways…

Ensure the Guardian for Children and Young People is funded to be the Community Visitor for children in residential care.

Empower the Aboriginal Children's Commissioner to create an Aboriginal-led group, in conjunction with Aboriginal children, families and organisations, that will ensure Aboriginal voices are heard and acted upon…

Work with the Create Foundation and the Guardian for Children and Young People to establish a mechanism for the Minister to directly hear from children in care on an at least quarterly basis…

Addressing the Child Protection Workforce Crisis

It is essential that the child protection workforce is better supported. The crisis in child protection has been felt deeply by workers in residential care and across the department.

A Malinauskas Labor government will:

Fill existing job vacancies.

Develop a workforce plan, in consultation with workers and their unions and community organisations, to ensure sustainable, safe staffing levels for the future.

Initiate a campaign to connect students and other job seekers with work in child protection.

Ensure at least quarterly meetings between the Minister and the relevant Unions to hear about staffing issues that need to be addressed.

Labor will also review legislative and policy settings so that responsibility for children's safety and wellbeing is taken and so that policies and practices work effectively for children, their families, carers, workers and communities.

I bet you the only thing that the minister is taking out of this speech is this: I bet you that right now someone in her office, at her request, is sitting there going, 'Oh crap, which one have we done? Which one haven't we done?'

I will tell you which one you have not done: you have not done the most important one. You have not done the one that you pledged you were going to do and the one that everybody else has been waiting 16 months for. That is the report that is sitting on your desk collecting dust, and that is the bitter disappointment that you have brought to this parliament. You have come to all of us time and time again—and I have had these conversations with you, minister, in my office, in your office, before Budget and Finance and any other committee we can call—and we have been told time and time again: 'It's coming. Just be patient.'

Do you know what is happening while we are being patient? More and more kids are being put at risk. If you honestly expect anyone in this circle to believe that you are putting these kids at the centre of your policymaking, then you need to look no further than the budget that was released last week, because they are not front and centre of this budget. They are by no means front and centre of this budget.

Foster and kinship carers have been telling this government what they need for I do not know how long. We have had reference to the Dr Arney report. In February this year, I spoke about that and about superannuation and how much carers save governments in money. This could be done just purely on an economic basis. If someone sat there, maybe if the Treasurer sat there and did the sums, he would realise that spending 75 per cent of the child protection budget on out-of-home care is nowhere near as effective or economic as ensuring that those kids are appropriately placed in housing with loved ones, with kinship carers, with grandcarers, who are appropriately recompensed.

You are never going to make up for the fact that those kids are not with their parents but, for whatever reason, they cannot be. But do not treat the people who are looking after them like mugs—and that is what we do, we treat them like mugs.

We bank on the fact that in 85 per cent of cases, some family member, whether they can afford it or not, whether they are in their retirement or not, whether they have to give up their job or not—and, overwhelmingly, it is women—are going to have to give up going to work, sell their house, and do whatever they have to do. This government banks on the fact that in 85 per cent of cases a family member is going to put their hand up and they are going to look after that kid because they do not want to see that kid lost to a broken system and I do not blame them—I do not blame them one bit—but I do sympathise with them, and that is what unites them on this.

They have had crickets. It is not just disrespect that we have shown those families who do what they do, it is utterly unconscionable—utterly and totally unconscionable. So when the minister next comes and says, 'Give me a little bit more time. Here, these are all the great things that are coming,' it is not going to wash anymore. We have been there, we have done that. I have been having discussions with her all year—not just this year, mind you—and we are all still waiting, and we still have crickets. So here we find ourselves today.

I know that the minister will also say, 'You know I am trying. You know I am trying really hard. I know that this is our priority. There is only 25 per cent left of our budget that I can contribute towards the things that are actually going to make a meaningful impact and change the trajectory of these kids lives.' But in the meantime, 75 per cent of that funding is going to go towards residential care—75 per cent of the budget will go to residential care. That in itself is an extraordinary figure.

But then the minister will say, 'I have to compete against all those other ministers and all those other interests and everyone else who wants money from the budget for their projects and their portfolios. I have to compete and I am worried about what I am going to get.' I have never heard a bigger crock than that one. I have never heard more rubbish than that. That flies in the face of every commitment that she gave on 16 March 2022 on behalf of this government.

We have had a child protection crisis in this state for a very long time. When this minister was in opposition, she had a red-hot crack at the then minister about the way she conducted this. When we had that legislation introduced into this place, sure, we were not happy with it either. We were not happy with the former minister's proposals around this. But you really have to think we are stupid, like really, really stupid, or you are really, really smart, that after all this time, since the former minister left—I do not know, when was Rachel Sanderson here? When was that?

The Hon. L.A. Henderson: In 2022.

The Hon. C. BONAROS: In 2022.

The Hon. T.A. Franks interjecting:

The Hon. C. BONAROS: When did we do that? I do not know, it was something like 2019 and we are now in 2024. We are still waiting to see that same piece of legislation. Either those bureaucrats are moving really bloody slowly or this minister is taking the mickey out of all of us, and, worst of all, she is turning her back on the most vulnerable kids in the state.

The Hon. B.R. Hood: And their carers.

The Hon. C. BONAROS: And their carers, and their grandcarers—whoever it is who is looking after these kids. If you think for a minute that putting kids under the care of guardianship is the answer, you are so, so sorely mistaken because that is when you really set these kids up for failure. We have seen the numbers of 18-year orders go through the roof. One in four kids comes under—if there are four of us, one of our kids has been under the watch of Child Protection. That is a lot of kids.

The Hon. T.A. Franks: That is about the reported notifications.

The Hon. C. BONAROS: Notifications, but one in four kids has come into—

The Hon. T.A. Franks: Maybe she should change the threshold for notifications.

The Hon. C. BONAROS: Yes.

The Hon. L.A. Henderson: It is now one in three.

The Hon. C. BONAROS: One in three—there we go. These are not trivial things. We are talking about kids' lives. I have just pointed to six coronial inquests that involved the death of kids. There are another three that are appointed that have not been the subject of a coronial inquest. That is nine kids I have counted today who are all dead and they were all in some way, shape or form, in, under, in contact with, under the care of, or whatever the case may be, of child protection and this minister keeps coming to us and saying, 'Just wait a little longer. Wait a little longer and we will get this right.'

In the meantime, foster carers and kinship carers and grandcarers keep carrying the load and it is a heavy, heavy load and a heavy, heavy burden. Ultimately, the ones who pay the price for that heavy, heavy load and that heavy, heavy burden are not the minister, who loves going to her sporting activities on the weekends and every other given day of the week. It is the kids. It is those little, innocent kids who we have the opportunity to help but who ultimately do not get the best shot at life because we are not affording them all the opportunities they deserve and that is an indictment on all of us, an absolute indictment on all of us, in this place. I will be stuffed if I am going to sit by and listen to this minister say to me once more, 'Give us a bit more time.' Your time is up, minister. Get cracking or expect more of this and worse.

The Hon. M. EL DANNAWI (23:41): I rise to speak on behalf of the government. The government appreciates the honourable member's ongoing advocacy for the safety for vulnerable children. Due to the notice period given for moving and bringing this motion to a vote, the Labor caucus has been unable to consider the motion, thus the government is not able to support it on that basis.

The Hon. T.A. FRANKS (23:41): I would like to thank those members who made a contribution to this debate: the Hon. Laura Henderson, the Hon. Ben Hood, the Hon. Connie Bonaros and the Hon. Mira El Dannawi. I would echo some of the words of the Hon. Connie Bonaros in drawing members of this council and of the other place and generally the Labor Party MPs in general to the words of now Minister Katrine Hildyard on 16 March 2022. I seek leave to table this letter that was sent in response to the state election commitments requested by Connecting Foster and Kinship Care SA, dated 16 March 2022.

Leave granted.

The Hon. T.A. FRANKS: I do so because I know it is not necessarily a document in the public domain. It is certainly one that has been held onto by carers and one that they put some, I believe, false hope in. I point out that on page 2 of that document, under 'Supporting Carers, Grandparents and Extended Families', now Minister Hildyard, then the shadow minister, promised to:

Legislate faster response by the government to complaints by carers and to ensure complaints processes are effective.

On page 3, she goes on to say:

Labor will also review legislative and policy settings so that responsibility for children's safety and wellbeing is taken and so that policies and practices work effectively for children, their families, carers, workers and communities.

So for the Labor government to receive from their now minister some talking points that claim that she has not had enough time to respond to this motion, a motion that has been on the Notice Paper since the end of 2023, some six months, that asks her to keep the promises she made in March 2022 that do not require any expenditure of funding necessarily to enact the most pressing parts of the findings of the review of the current act of its failings to ensure that carers are actually given due process when it comes to care concerns or given procedural fairness and given the respect they deserve to retain their services and their absolute commitment, it does not actually require this government to expend a single cent of additional funds to enact all those things to keep those particular promises. They should have been kept in 2022.

But here we are. It took quite a while for the review to take place. It has been 16 months since that review report was in Minister Hildyard's inbox and received with all that work by the community, by the carers, by the sector—all those recommendations—and we should have had a piece of legislation before this parliament by the end of last year, as she promised.

It is extraordinary that a minister would give any member of her party some talking points that the Labor caucus did not have enough time to come up with a position on this motion we debate tonight. It is extraordinary as an argument. No amount of sophistry, no amount of pretty words and rhetoric can dress that rubbish up. I commend the motion.

Motion carried.

PARLIAMENTARY BUSINESS
MEMBERS
GET INVOLVED
ABOUT PARLIAMENT
VISIT
LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY
CONTACT