Ms FYLES - 2013-08-29
One hundred and ninety-three child protection workers are gone under your government. Child abuse reports are up but your investigations are down. You have axed independent scrutiny, caseload ratios are increasing, and morale in the Department of Children and Families is at an all-time low. Vacant positions are not being filled. What will you do to restore the child protection system your minister has destroyed?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, if you want to ask a question on child protection why not ask the Child Protection minister? I can answer any question about how we are cleaning up Labor mess and the challenges in child protection from when you were in government. You cannot click your fingers and change a whole system in everyone’s portfolio in a 12-month time frame. There are significant changes in all this. I will hand the question over to the minister for Child Protection to respond.
Ms FYLES: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Standing Order 113: relevance. It was a direct question to the Chief Minister about what he will do about child protection because his minister is failing.
Madam SPEAKER: He has the latitude to pass it to the Minister for Children and Families as it is her portfolio.
Ms ANDERSON (Child Protection): Madam Speaker, I thank the Chief Minister. This is utter nonsense. What we found in OCF when we came to government was children hidden under bureaucracy and paper. The primary responsibility of OCF is to ensure frontline practitioners are working with families and children. We are ensuring the focus is on children.
Let me tell you, we have had to move all the papers around to find the child. They left the agency in an utter mess and the culprit is sitting across there asking the question. She worked inside the minister’s office. She was hiding it all from the public, that culprit, the one standing up.
Ms FYLES: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Standing Order 113: relevance. Minister Anderson is the Minister for Children and Families. What is she doing for her department when 193 staff have gone and there are no case plans for children?
Madam SPEAKER: There is no point of order. The minister is answering the question.
Ms ANDERSON: Madam Speaker, the culprit who worked inside the agency, the chihuahua who continues to niggle at the heel and bites people.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Namatjira, please pause. Refer to the member by her electorate name please. She is the member for Nightcliff, not the culprit.
Ms ANDERSON: The member for Nightcliff has no idea what she is talking about. That is why there were no outcomes in OCF. She was appalling working for the minister on that agency. There were no results; we are starting to see results. We are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Mr GUNNER: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Standing Order 113: relevance. The question was very specific: 193 child protection staff have gone, and what is being done to restore the child protection system you are destroying?
Madam SPEAKER: Minister, you have the call.
Ms ANDERSON: All the processes we have in place - we have the Signs of Safety training and are recruiting to positions that were empty when she was there. When the member for Nightcliff worked for the minister, neither of them did anything for child protection. You were never interested in child protection, neither was your minister. You were interested in the politics …
Ms WALKER: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Standing Order 113: relevance, in relation to answering the question rather than simply attacking. Also, could you ask her to desist from talking across the Chamber and pointing her finger. She needs to address through the Chair.
Madam SPEAKER: Minister, please address your comments through the Chair. Continue.
Ms ANDERSON: I would like to pick up on the interjection the member for Nhulunbuy has made inside this Chamber: give the house you live in to a teacher at Nhulunbuy.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Namatjira, your comments should be addressed through the Chair.
Mr GUNNER: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Standing Order 113: relevance. I ask her to explain, apart from losing 193 staff …
Madam SPEAKER: The minister has finished her answer, member for Fannie Bay.
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, if you want to ask a question on child protection why not ask the Child Protection minister? I can answer any question about how we are cleaning up Labor mess and the challenges in child protection from when you were in government. You cannot click your fingers and change a whole system in everyone’s portfolio in a 12-month time frame. There are significant changes in all this. I will hand the question over to the minister for Child Protection to respond.
Ms FYLES: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Standing Order 113: relevance. It was a direct question to the Chief Minister about what he will do about child protection because his minister is failing.
Madam SPEAKER: He has the latitude to pass it to the Minister for Children and Families as it is her portfolio.
Ms ANDERSON (Child Protection): Madam Speaker, I thank the Chief Minister. This is utter nonsense. What we found in OCF when we came to government was children hidden under bureaucracy and paper. The primary responsibility of OCF is to ensure frontline practitioners are working with families and children. We are ensuring the focus is on children.
Let me tell you, we have had to move all the papers around to find the child. They left the agency in an utter mess and the culprit is sitting across there asking the question. She worked inside the minister’s office. She was hiding it all from the public, that culprit, the one standing up.
Ms FYLES: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Standing Order 113: relevance. Minister Anderson is the Minister for Children and Families. What is she doing for her department when 193 staff have gone and there are no case plans for children?
Madam SPEAKER: There is no point of order. The minister is answering the question.
Ms ANDERSON: Madam Speaker, the culprit who worked inside the agency, the chihuahua who continues to niggle at the heel and bites people.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Namatjira, please pause. Refer to the member by her electorate name please. She is the member for Nightcliff, not the culprit.
Ms ANDERSON: The member for Nightcliff has no idea what she is talking about. That is why there were no outcomes in OCF. She was appalling working for the minister on that agency. There were no results; we are starting to see results. We are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Mr GUNNER: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Standing Order 113: relevance. The question was very specific: 193 child protection staff have gone, and what is being done to restore the child protection system you are destroying?
Madam SPEAKER: Minister, you have the call.
Ms ANDERSON: All the processes we have in place - we have the Signs of Safety training and are recruiting to positions that were empty when she was there. When the member for Nightcliff worked for the minister, neither of them did anything for child protection. You were never interested in child protection, neither was your minister. You were interested in the politics …
Ms WALKER: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Standing Order 113: relevance, in relation to answering the question rather than simply attacking. Also, could you ask her to desist from talking across the Chamber and pointing her finger. She needs to address through the Chair.
Madam SPEAKER: Minister, please address your comments through the Chair. Continue.
Ms ANDERSON: I would like to pick up on the interjection the member for Nhulunbuy has made inside this Chamber: give the house you live in to a teacher at Nhulunbuy.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Namatjira, your comments should be addressed through the Chair.
Mr GUNNER: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Standing Order 113: relevance. I ask her to explain, apart from losing 193 staff …
Madam SPEAKER: The minister has finished her answer, member for Fannie Bay.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016