Wednesday, 30 August 2023

Ministers statements: child protection

Lizzie BLANDTHORN (Western Metropolitan – Minister for Disability, Ageing and Carers, Minister for Child Protection and Family Services) (12:26): I rise to update the house on the vital work child protection practitioners do every day to keep children and young people safe and families strong. Recently I was pleased to visit a child protection intake office in the northern suburbs to chat to child protection practitioners who receive reports at the intake phase of child protection. These workers receive thousands of reports every year, ranging from concerned friends and neighbours through to mandatory reports from schools, from police and from health settings regarding the safety of children and young people. Reports are received in multiple ways, with the most common being through our intake phone lines.

The role that these workers play in the child protection system cannot be overstated. They use their professional judgement to make difficult decisions on the action that should be taken in response to these reports each and every day. Their ability to investigate the reports and gather facts to inform their decision-making is critical. I want to thank each of these practitioners and the staff that I visited with for the insights that they shared in relation to their roles. The difference they are making every day in response to the reports received is astounding. They make incredibly tough decisions, but they are making an important difference in each family each and every day. I appreciated the opportunity to thank them directly for their work. It is this side of the house that will always back this vital workforce and support the job that they do, and that is why we promote a career in child protection through our Go Where You’re Needed and Jobs That Matter campaigns. We provide them with the resources they need; 1180 additional child protection practitioners have been funded since we came to government.

With National Child Protection Week starting this Sunday, I take the opportunity to thank all child protection practitioners and the workforce in our community sector organisation partners for the invaluable service that they all make to keeping Victorian children and young people safe and families strong. They all embody the theme for this year’s National Child Protection Week: ‘Every child, in every community, needs a fair go’.