Mr KNIGHT - 2006-06-14
A joint task force involving police and the Department of Health and Community Services has been announced to work on child abuse and child protection. What is the joint task force expected to achieve?
ANSWER
Mr Acting Speaker, it is an important question and I thank the member for Daly for asking it. In our recent experience, it has been shown from key investigations that the best results were achieved in this important area of child abuse and child protection when police and child protection officers worked in close partnership. The task force that was announced today by the Police Commissioner involving our police force and the Department of Health and Community Services will work not only on investigating child abuse, but improving child protection across the Northern Territory. The task force will formalise the existing collaboration between the two agencies and build on that arrangement.
The task force will include detectives who will be specially qualified in forensic child interviewing, plus Family and Children’s Services child protection officers. There will be five detectives, an intelligence officer and 14 FACS staff who will be initially assigned to the task force. This will build capacity to respond to child abuse and child sex abuse beyond the scope of the normal criminal investigations.
This is all about finding the most effective ways of bringing offenders to justice, and providing the best possible protection for our children across the Territory. The task force will also investigate trends and patterns in Territory communities, and assess wide-ranging solutions to child protection. In February this year, the agencies of police and FACS, jointly established a Peace at Home Project in Katherine to improve responses to family violence. The child protection task force is another example of that working together to reduce crime and increase public safety, especially for vulnerable children.
Since 2001-02, there has been a 36% increase in child abuse notifications in the Territory, and this includes a 96% increase in notifications in cases involving Aboriginal children. There has also been nearly 100% increase in children taken into out-of-home care. When you break it down into Aboriginal children, that increase is 118%. While those figures are very sad, our activity has shown that we are doing a lot more in discovering where child abuse is happening and making the requirements those children need to be taken out of their families. They are being taken at greater numbers, sadly, but it is a much more effective response than we saw five years ago.
It is essential that the task force involves Aboriginal families and community leaders who, we know, are overwhelmingly and passionately wanting to protect their children and provide them with the best environment possible.
ANSWER
Mr Acting Speaker, it is an important question and I thank the member for Daly for asking it. In our recent experience, it has been shown from key investigations that the best results were achieved in this important area of child abuse and child protection when police and child protection officers worked in close partnership. The task force that was announced today by the Police Commissioner involving our police force and the Department of Health and Community Services will work not only on investigating child abuse, but improving child protection across the Northern Territory. The task force will formalise the existing collaboration between the two agencies and build on that arrangement.
The task force will include detectives who will be specially qualified in forensic child interviewing, plus Family and Children’s Services child protection officers. There will be five detectives, an intelligence officer and 14 FACS staff who will be initially assigned to the task force. This will build capacity to respond to child abuse and child sex abuse beyond the scope of the normal criminal investigations.
This is all about finding the most effective ways of bringing offenders to justice, and providing the best possible protection for our children across the Territory. The task force will also investigate trends and patterns in Territory communities, and assess wide-ranging solutions to child protection. In February this year, the agencies of police and FACS, jointly established a Peace at Home Project in Katherine to improve responses to family violence. The child protection task force is another example of that working together to reduce crime and increase public safety, especially for vulnerable children.
Since 2001-02, there has been a 36% increase in child abuse notifications in the Territory, and this includes a 96% increase in notifications in cases involving Aboriginal children. There has also been nearly 100% increase in children taken into out-of-home care. When you break it down into Aboriginal children, that increase is 118%. While those figures are very sad, our activity has shown that we are doing a lot more in discovering where child abuse is happening and making the requirements those children need to be taken out of their families. They are being taken at greater numbers, sadly, but it is a much more effective response than we saw five years ago.
It is essential that the task force involves Aboriginal families and community leaders who, we know, are overwhelmingly and passionately wanting to protect their children and provide them with the best environment possible.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016