Child protection
Mr GUY (Bulleen—Leader of the Opposition) (14:09): My question is to the minister for child protection. A key reason for the Auditor-General’s assessment that vulnerable children in care are not safe but at risk of further harm is serious failures to support volunteer carers. This comes just a week after new data showed that far more Victorian carers are leaving the system than entering it and revelations that a report to government highlights the inadequacy of support for carers in Victoria. Why is the minister refusing, even under freedom of information, to release the KPMG report into the true cost to vulnerable children of carer burnout?
Mr CARBINES (Ivanhoe—Minister for Child Protection and Family Services, Minister for Disability, Ageing and Carers) (14:10): I thank the Leader of the Opposition for his question. Just within the past couple of weeks I was with the Centre for Excellence in Child and Family Welfare in relation to Fostering Connections, which is a new program that we were launching to recruit and retain more foster carers and kinship carers in the system. It was at the launch of Fostering Connections in the past couple of weeks that it was also brought to my attention by many of our stakeholders who were engaged in the launch of that campaign to bring in more foster carers—our foster carers are ageing, and our kinship carers, and we need to explain and ensure that people understand the role that can be played by new foster and kinship carers in our community. It was explained to me that it was great to have the Fostering Connections program back, to engage in that program, because apparently it had been cut by those opposite. They, the centre for excellence, and our many carer organisations welcomed the Fostering Connections program to recruit and retain more foster carers in our community, and I welcome that. In relation to other reports, I do not comment on matters that are not the purview of public documents.
But I do say that the Fostering Connections program is about, again, supporting the community and responding to our foster carers in their desire to have a Fostering Connections program to recruit and retain more foster carers in the system and also to make sure that there are opportunities through things funded in our budget this year—the $5.8 million carer help desk, a priority through our carer strategy for our foster carers and kinship carers, a go-to place for specific support and all the life administration such as Medicare cards. We all understand the different pieces of paper and work in running and managing and looking after your family, but when you are suddenly taking on the support and the care of vulnerable children you also need some assistance with managing Medicare cards and other bits and pieces of the paperwork. We have said, through our carer strategy, prioritised by our foster carers, that our $5.8 million commitment on the carers help desk will be delivered—
Mr Guy: On a point of order, Speaker, on relevance. As you said at the start, this is a very serious topic about the safety of children. My question went straight to—
Mr Cheeseman interjected.
The SPEAKER: Order! The member for South Barwon can leave the chamber for the period of 1 hour.
Member for South Barwon withdrew from chamber.
Mr Guy: About time. The question went—
Members interjecting.
The SPEAKER: Order! The Leader of the Opposition on the point of order.
Mr Guy: The question went to a freedom of information report still being unable to access a KPMG report of the minister’s—and around carer burnout, I should say—and I ask you to bring the minister back to answering that specific question.
The SPEAKER: Order! I am happy to rule on the point of order. The question was a long one with a large preamble relating to care, and the minister is being relevant to the issues that were raised. The minister has concluded his answer.
Mr GUY (Bulleen—Leader of the Opposition) (14:13): Lack of carers means many vulnerable children are placed instead into group residential care units. Victoria’s independent children’s commissioner has said that children in these units are routinely targeted by paedophiles, forced into prostitution and raped, and they abscond for long periods and engage in drug use and violence. Can the minister at least confirm that this suppressed KPMG report highlights longstanding inadequacies of support given by the government to carers and recommends a 67 per cent increase in the care allowance to retain more carers?
Mr CARBINES (Ivanhoe—Minister for Child Protection and Family Services, Minister for Disability, Ageing and Carers) (14:13): I thank the Leader of the Opposition for his question. It went to several matters. Firstly, in relation to reports that the Leader of the Opposition refers to, they are matters of course that he can pursue with the department. They are the department’s reports. Can I say further, in relation to residential care and the work of the commissioner for children and young people, who does really fantastic work as an advocate in her role, her independent role, on behalf of vulnerable children, I am also very pleased to say in our budget this year a further $19 million has been allocated for residential care support for those community service organisations. I want to thank them, in UnitingCare, in Anglicare, at Berry Street, at MacKillop, for the work that they do for the most vulnerable children in our community who do not have the supports of kinship care, who do not have the opportunity to have the support of our foster carers, and who are in residential care. They might be in small numbers, but they get huge support from our community, our community service organisations and this government.