CHILD PROTECTION —
CASEWORKERS — WORKLOAD
644. Mr A. KRSTICEVIC to the Minister for Child Protection:
It is currently National Child
Protection Week. An extremely concerning silent vigil was held last night at
Parliament House by child protection workers and foster carers.
(1) Is it true
that this month there have been 451 children in care on the ghost list, whereby
they have not had a dedicated caseworker assigned to them, and that 69
caseworkers have caseloads of 15 or more cases?
(2) Does the minister
concede that the department is under-resourced?
Ms S.F.
McGURK replied:
(1)–(2) I
am very proud to defend the McGowan government's record on child
protection. Not only the McGowan government, but also previous Labor state
governments before this one have a very solid history when it comes to child
protection matters, supporting not only those workers doing very important work
on the frontline, but also reform where it is necessary. It was interesting to
have the member ask this question today,
because I was thinking back. Not only did I not see anyone from the opposition
at the vigil last night during National Child Protection Week—they
had the opportunity to attend—but I was looking back, and it was June
2019 that I was last asked a question in this place about children in care. It
was June 2019. The member has taken the opportunity there.
Mr A. Krsticevic
interjected.
The SPEAKER: Member for
Carine!
Ms S.F. McGURK: I guess
observers will look at that and say, ''Does the opposition really care
about children in the child protection system? Does it really care about the
system?'' I am not sure.
Mr A. Krsticevic
interjected.
The SPEAKER: Member for
Carine, I call you to order for the first time.
Ms S.F. McGURK: But I am
happy to talk —
Mr A. Krsticevic interjected.
The SPEAKER: Member for
Carine, I call you to order for the second time. You will have a supplementary
in a minute, maybe.
Ms S.F. McGURK: Perhaps
the member would do well to listen to what the government is doing in child
protection, because it is doing a lot. We are committed to improving
outcomes for families, including reducing the number of children in care, and
supporting the workforce, which does important work, making sure that it is
capable and well-equipped. We have committed additional resources to fund
frontline child protection work, including in early intervention work, and
members will remember that we have introduced changes to the Children and
Community Services Act. That is currently before the other place. We have
developed new ways of working, so we are innovating, including a trial for
Aboriginal family–led decision-making. We have appointed a new
magistrate in the Children's Court, and that magistrate has begun work
on a pilot for a therapeutic child protection court model. We also have the
Home Stretch pilot—additional supports for young people leaving care.
We are establishing a specialist child protection unit within the Department of
Communities to strengthen and support expertise and practice on the ground.
I hope that the member was pleased
to see that we allocated extra money for carers during COVID—$500 for
each carer for their first child and $250 for each child after that. We have
made a very conscious and deliberate decision not only to protect child
protection staff from any budget repair that we were required to do on coming
to office, but also we have actually grown the workforce. Since we have been in
office, between June 2017 and June 2020, the
child protection workforce has increased by over 18 per cent. That is the
equivalent of over 158 FTEs. We have grown
the workforce. Let us compare that with the previous government. In five years,
from June 2012 to June 2017, how many FTEs did it increase the child
protection workforce by? It increased it by 35 FTE. In three years, we have
increased the FTEs by 158.
Mr A. Krsticevic
interjected.
The SPEAKER: Member for
Carine, you have a supplementary. It does not matter.
Ms S.F. McGURK: The previous
government's comparison for five years is 35 FTE. Our record is clear.
We are supporting the workforce, we are
supporting reform and we are supporting our partners, not only the child
protection workforce, but also our partners in foster carers and
not-for-profit organisations. We are doing important work in early intervention
and we are starting to see some results. I do not know whether the member was
paying attention, but I did outline these
results earlier in the week during question time; that is, we have seen the
lowest rate of growth of children in
care since 1998. That hard work is starting to pay off. It is difficult work.
It is not the only metric that should be used—the number of
children coming into care—because we want to make sure that children
are safe, but it is one metric, and a metric that I am proud of.