Mr MILLS - 2008-05-06
This government has made much out of the issue of child protection. In 2002-03, the budget for this area was $14.7m. Last financial year, it grew to $31.5m, and I notice in this year’s budget it is broken down but it still appears to be around $36m. With all that extra money, can you explain why 29% of Category 1 Child Protection Notifications are not attended to within the departmental guidelines of 24 hours, when you indicate in the budget papers that all Category 1 notifications must be attended within 24 hours?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the Leader of the Opposition for his question. I recall being asked the exact same question during the estimates process when I was the Minister for Family and Community Services. Despite the fact that it is actually a question that would normally be answered by the portfolio minister, this government makes no apology for having increased resources into the area of child protection, particularly into the front end of the system, which is the intake services which do the very quick responses that the Leader of the Opposition’s question was about.
How do we change what we do today as opposed to what was done in the past? Well, a fundamental and critically important change is that this government created the Child Abuse Task Force. That is an intake team that combines Police and FACS workers, who are literally co-located in an office and deal with those intake calls as they come through. The feedback I am getting from child protection workers is that it is critically important to be co-located with police because of the combined knowledge of the two agencies. The police database systems and criminal history information is important to making that very rapid assessment as to what level of investigation it requires, when - and by whom, importantly, as well.
So what does Budget 2008-09 deliver to CAT Force? Funding for 24 additional police and 23 additional child protection workers. I look forward to the debate in and around estimates between the Minister for Child Protection and the opposition. We will fund into this critical area of need. We have 106 extra child protection workers funded by the Territory government under funding commitments we have made. That compares to …
Ms Scrymgour: $8m.
Ms LAWRIE: It was almost a decade of no change in staff allocation, resources or funding to Child Protection Services under the CLP.
I will stack up the funding and resources the Labor government is putting into child protection any day - any day - against the deficit we inherited ...
Mr MILLS: A point of order, Madam Speaker! According to their own guidelines, one-third of these kids are not being attended to. That is the issue: nearly 30% of these kids are not being attended to, according to their own guidelines.
Madam SPEAKER: There is no point of order.
Ms LAWRIE: That is not true. I caution the Leader of the Opposition. He would not want to get into the realms of misleading parliament …
Mr Mills: What? Using your own information?
Ms LAWRIE: He is leading with his chin on this one. It is around the timeliness of responses, not whether or not there is a response. Every call that comes in - and I refer you to the Hansard of Estimates last year, where we had a child protection expert from our agency explain this very issue to the then shadow minister, who is no longer in this Chamber, who had somewhat of a better inkling of this question than the Leader of the Opposition has - who is leading with his chin.
Every single call that comes in is afforded an assessment, and whether or not an investigation occurs results out of that assessment. However, 100% of calls are assessed. What we are finding is that we have a far more robust assessment process now, because we have CAT Force - FACS workers sitting next to police, dedicated to do these intake calls, and to assess, at a higher level than I would argue has ever been assessed before under an under-resourced area of Child Protection. So, lead with your chin on this one and read the Estimates Hansard from last year to get an inkling - just an inkling - Leader of the Opposition, of how Child Protection Services work in the Territory.
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the Leader of the Opposition for his question. I recall being asked the exact same question during the estimates process when I was the Minister for Family and Community Services. Despite the fact that it is actually a question that would normally be answered by the portfolio minister, this government makes no apology for having increased resources into the area of child protection, particularly into the front end of the system, which is the intake services which do the very quick responses that the Leader of the Opposition’s question was about.
How do we change what we do today as opposed to what was done in the past? Well, a fundamental and critically important change is that this government created the Child Abuse Task Force. That is an intake team that combines Police and FACS workers, who are literally co-located in an office and deal with those intake calls as they come through. The feedback I am getting from child protection workers is that it is critically important to be co-located with police because of the combined knowledge of the two agencies. The police database systems and criminal history information is important to making that very rapid assessment as to what level of investigation it requires, when - and by whom, importantly, as well.
So what does Budget 2008-09 deliver to CAT Force? Funding for 24 additional police and 23 additional child protection workers. I look forward to the debate in and around estimates between the Minister for Child Protection and the opposition. We will fund into this critical area of need. We have 106 extra child protection workers funded by the Territory government under funding commitments we have made. That compares to …
Ms Scrymgour: $8m.
Ms LAWRIE: It was almost a decade of no change in staff allocation, resources or funding to Child Protection Services under the CLP.
I will stack up the funding and resources the Labor government is putting into child protection any day - any day - against the deficit we inherited ...
Mr MILLS: A point of order, Madam Speaker! According to their own guidelines, one-third of these kids are not being attended to. That is the issue: nearly 30% of these kids are not being attended to, according to their own guidelines.
Madam SPEAKER: There is no point of order.
Ms LAWRIE: That is not true. I caution the Leader of the Opposition. He would not want to get into the realms of misleading parliament …
Mr Mills: What? Using your own information?
Ms LAWRIE: He is leading with his chin on this one. It is around the timeliness of responses, not whether or not there is a response. Every call that comes in - and I refer you to the Hansard of Estimates last year, where we had a child protection expert from our agency explain this very issue to the then shadow minister, who is no longer in this Chamber, who had somewhat of a better inkling of this question than the Leader of the Opposition has - who is leading with his chin.
Every single call that comes in is afforded an assessment, and whether or not an investigation occurs results out of that assessment. However, 100% of calls are assessed. What we are finding is that we have a far more robust assessment process now, because we have CAT Force - FACS workers sitting next to police, dedicated to do these intake calls, and to assess, at a higher level than I would argue has ever been assessed before under an under-resourced area of Child Protection. So, lead with your chin on this one and read the Estimates Hansard from last year to get an inkling - just an inkling - Leader of the Opposition, of how Child Protection Services work in the Territory.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016