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Parliamentary Questions


Question Without Notice No. 119 asked in the Legislative Assembly on 15 March 2022 by Ms M.J. Davies

Parliament: 41 Session: 1

MINISTER FOR CHILD PROTECTION — PERFORMANCE

119. Ms M.J. DAVIES to the Premier:

I have a supplementary question. Thank you, Premier. If secret reports that sit on the shelf unattended, raids on whistleblower homes, failures to meet child safety key performance indicators and strikes by child protection workers underway right now is an acceptable standard for a minister in the Premier's government, what does a minister need to do to be relieved of their portfolio?

Mr M. McGOWAN replied:

I think that is just a repeat of what the Leader of the Opposition said before. The number of additional staff we have put in as child protection caseworkers has grown by 28.6 per cent, which is a total of 201.8 full-time equivalent employees, over our time in office. During the Leader of the Opposition's last term in office, it was 13.3 FTEs. We have increased the number by 201; during the Leader of the Opposition's last term in office it increased by 13. Over the Leader of the Opposition's entire time in office, the number of caseworkers increased by 78; over eight and a half years, it went up by 78. Over our five years in office, it has gone up by 201. These are the people on the ground who work with children who are in need of care and are under the department's sole protection. So that is a demonstration of a minister who comes to the Expenditure Review Committee and through the budget process actually gets outcomes that assist vulnerable children who are in need.

On the other issue of the documents that were removed from the department, as I outlined to the Leader of the Opposition before—I think the Leader of the Opposition needs to listen to this—2 646 documents were removed, including 151 presentations and 332 spreadsheets that included highly confidential personal information about children in care. That information should not be removed from the department. It is not the sort of thing that should be available to be released, and so that is why it was a significant issue. The department initiated the actions as required under the Public Sector Management Act 1994, which was passed by Richard Court and Hendy Cowan when they came to office, the best part of 30 years ago, and which has not been changed. They are the processes that are required by law. The context, or the tone, of the Leader of the Opposition's question is that somehow the government or the department should have broken the law, or the minister should intervene to enforce the breaking of the law. I do not understand why the Leader of the Opposition would suggest such a thing. I do not understand why anyone would suggest such a thing. You have to act with propriety when you are in government. The minister and the government have allowed for the processes of the department and the police investigations, perhaps in conjunction with their lawyers and whatever, to run without political interference by the minister or me or any other members of the government. The tone of the Leader of the Opposition's question is that it should be all political and somehow the law—the Public Sector Management Act—should be broken. That is just not something that is appropriate and it shows how unfit for office the Leader of the Opposition is.

The SPEAKER: That concludes question time.