Ms CARNEY - 2006-06-14
In the last few weeks, I have received several e-mails from health workers who have been frustrated by the lack of action that has occurred, or not occurred, following reporting of child abuse in remote communities. I table one of those e-mails. One I received is from a health worker in Central Australia who is very concerned that she reported a case of a 6-year-old girl having syphilis. She reported it in relatively recent times. Then, only a few months later, the same child went back to that clinic and presented with another sexually transmitted infection.
Are you aware of that and other cases and, how will your 20-year plan immediately take action to deal with those sorts of cases and prevent many children being subjected to what is repeated sexual abuse in communities, with no action and without even being taken into care?
Ms Lawrie: It is not true there is no action. Not true.
Ms CARNEY: Read the e-mail.
Ms Lawrie: Find out the facts.
ANSWER
Mr Acting Speaker, I do not know of this individual case. I did not receive the e-mail that the Opposition Leader did. It is a very tragic case and, if there has not been follow-up, there should have been. I say, on behalf of everyone in this House, that if a six-year-old had syphilis, we would want it followed up immediately. I will refer that to the minister. If you can pass that e-mail across, then we can certainly make sure that we follow that up straight away.
I have given the figures for how many more notifications we have of child abuse and child sexual abuse. I believe that, with the additional resources that are going into that area – the way we are changing the approach, particularly working with the police – that we probably will see a growing number of those notifications. In itself, that is a sadness, but we are not going to deal with this issue until we take the lid off it. As I said yesterday, for the last 10 years under the CLP, there was not one extra child protection worker put in place - not one extra child protection worker put in place – and we know that the police resources were kept very thin. Although we have instances, I am not diminishing the fact of the one that you have raised; if that was not investigated, I want to know why not.
Mr Acting Speaker, we will continue to focus resources on what is a very important area, and one of concern to every Territorian. We will have child protection workers, properly resourced, doing that work in our communities. They will work together with police, and we will make sure that we are giving the best protection we can to our children, wherever they are: Darwin, Alice Springs or a remote community.
Are you aware of that and other cases and, how will your 20-year plan immediately take action to deal with those sorts of cases and prevent many children being subjected to what is repeated sexual abuse in communities, with no action and without even being taken into care?
Ms Lawrie: It is not true there is no action. Not true.
Ms CARNEY: Read the e-mail.
Ms Lawrie: Find out the facts.
ANSWER
Mr Acting Speaker, I do not know of this individual case. I did not receive the e-mail that the Opposition Leader did. It is a very tragic case and, if there has not been follow-up, there should have been. I say, on behalf of everyone in this House, that if a six-year-old had syphilis, we would want it followed up immediately. I will refer that to the minister. If you can pass that e-mail across, then we can certainly make sure that we follow that up straight away.
I have given the figures for how many more notifications we have of child abuse and child sexual abuse. I believe that, with the additional resources that are going into that area – the way we are changing the approach, particularly working with the police – that we probably will see a growing number of those notifications. In itself, that is a sadness, but we are not going to deal with this issue until we take the lid off it. As I said yesterday, for the last 10 years under the CLP, there was not one extra child protection worker put in place - not one extra child protection worker put in place – and we know that the police resources were kept very thin. Although we have instances, I am not diminishing the fact of the one that you have raised; if that was not investigated, I want to know why not.
Mr Acting Speaker, we will continue to focus resources on what is a very important area, and one of concern to every Territorian. We will have child protection workers, properly resourced, doing that work in our communities. They will work together with police, and we will make sure that we are giving the best protection we can to our children, wherever they are: Darwin, Alice Springs or a remote community.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016