Tuesday, 6 February 2024

Child protection

Georgie CROZIER (Southern Metropolitan) (12:22): (392) My question is again to the Minister for Children. Minister, of the 2837 vulnerable children who were without a caseworker, how many have been involved in criminal activity?

Lizzie BLANDTHORN (Western Metropolitan – Minister for Children, Minister for Disability) (12:23): Again, I thank the member for her question. I just want to go back to the premise of her question. It clearly has not been well understood, my answer to her first question and attempt at a supplementary question. Again, for her benefit, there are no children in the child protection system who are not actively monitored by the child protection system. Whether or not a child is specifically allocated, all children involved within child protection are allocated to a team, which is overseen by a team manager.

In case you do not quite understand necessarily what that might mean, that means that decisions are informed by an ongoing risk assessment, and the level of risk is the primary consideration in determining the priorities for the assignment of allocation. When a dedicated child protection practitioner is not assigned to a child, the team manager issues tasks to their team, if you like, which may include things like face-to-face visits, gathering information from both the child and from other professionals, attending case conferences, attending court, completing referrals, completing carer assessments. So to be very clear, there are no children within the child protection system who are not actively monitored by the child protection system.

As at the end of the first quarter of 2023–24, though, there were 82.7 per cent of children who were assigned a specific person, if you like, a specific child protection practitioner. But, as I said, that was compared with 81.5 per cent when you were in government. So I will not be lectured by those opposite, who want to be holier than thou about whether or not someone is or is not allocated a child protection worker specifically.

Georgie Crozier: On a point of order, President, I know the minister is incredibly sensitive about this issue, as she should be, because too many children are failing –

The PRESIDENT: What is the point of order?

Georgie Crozier: I would ask you to draw her back to the question. My question was: of the 2837 vulnerable children who you have admitted were attending court, how many have been involved in criminal activity?

The PRESIDENT: The minister did not indicate that she did not understand the question she received.

Lizzie BLANDTHORN: I was just seeking to clarify for the member, who does not seem to understand what a specific allocation actually means. The clear implication of your question is that there are children left without case managers, and that is not the case. There are case managers and a child protection team –

Georgie Crozier: On a point of order, President, the minister is now debating her own answer. I mean, she just told us that 82.7 per cent were assigned and 17.3 per cent were not assigned. Could she just come back to the question: how many of these children have been involved in criminal activity? That is all I am asking.

The PRESIDENT: It is not for me to tell the minister how to answer a question, but also I believe that the minister is rejecting the premise of your question, which she has the right to do as well.

Lizzie BLANDTHORN: What I was seeking to do for the member opposite, who clearly does not understand the child protection system – and perhaps it is unfortunate that Dr Bach has gone to the other side of the world because of the state of affairs over there on that side of the chamber. Such a question would not have come from Dr Bach because Dr Bach understood – in the same way that I hope that anyone here who actually does genuinely care for these vulnerable children seeks to take the time to understand it – how the system works.

An allocation is not necessarily in the best interests of a child at any given point in time. Allocations are based on risk assessment. That does not mean that a child who is not assessed as needing a specific child protection practitioner assigned specifically to them is unmonitored. Each of those children has risk assessments, and they also are provided services actively by a team and overseen by a team manager. There are not – (Time expired)

Georgie CROZIER (Southern Metropolitan) (12:27): President, the minister did not answer the question, so I will ask again: how many children in the child protection system have been involved in criminal activity?

Lizzie BLANDTHORN (Western Metropolitan – Minister for Children, Minister for Disability) (12:28): Again, it is a relatively uninformed question. I think we are going to be lamenting a lot the move of Dr Bach so far away from these benches opposite.

Jaclyn Symes interjected.

Lizzie BLANDTHORN: As the Attorney-General just pointed out, it is unclear to me whether your question is as a victim or as a complainant. What is it that you are specifically suggesting? But what I can tell you is that our dedicated child protection practitioners, their team managers, their union and the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing are every day working in the best interests of the children who are within their care, and that involves active risk assessments. What is important here is that the children who are in the care of the state, who are actively within the child protection system – 17,000 of them on any given day – (Time expired)