Tuesday, 14 October 2025

 Georgie CROZIER (Southern Metropolitan) (12:43): My question is again to the Minister for Children. Minister, media reports yesterday claim whistleblowers from within the child protection system have said children as young as 10 were ‘recidivist offenders’ and the police were well acquainted with those who regularly abscond from residential units to commit crimes. Minister, when are you informed that a child in the child protection system has been involved in a crime?

 Lizzie BLANDTHORN (Western Metropolitan – Minister for Children, Minister for Disability) (12:44): I am pleased to be able to continue the line of questioning that Ms Crozier has gone down, because I did not quite get to finishing my point earlier. Indeed is it a very similar premise that is underlying where she is coming from. Again I remind those in this house that those in the children protection system are actually in a home, they are not in a custodial setting, and it is the responsibility of the child protection system to provide those children and young people with a safe and nurturing home and not –

Tom McIntosh interjected.

Georgie Crozier: Mr McIntosh, this is a really serious issue and I cannot hear the minister. On a point of order, President, I wonder if you could just ask the backbench to not interject on this. It is incredibly important. Vulnerable children are committing horrendous crimes.

The PRESIDENT: Can I ask for a bit of order from the chamber.

Lizzie BLANDTHORN: It is a bit rich from Ms Crozier when often I cannot hear myself over her own interjections. I will again say for the benefit of the house that I reject the premise that Ms Crozier is putting, which is that those who are in our child protection system are therefore by definition those who are out there becoming criminals – that is what her assertion is. What I want to tell this chamber is that the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare found that Victoria had the lowest rate in Australia of young people aged 10 to 17 under youth justice supervision who had also interacted with the child protection system in the past decade – eight per 10,000 according to the AIHW.

Ms Crozier, I know you would like to be able to draw an absolute line between youth justice offending and those in our child protection system, but one does not equal the other. Those children and young people who are in our child protection system are there for child protection. They are indeed vulnerable children and young people who have come from particularly complex situations, often unable to live safely with those who love them most or who are meant to love them and care for them the most, and indeed are the responsibility of the child protection system.

Georgie Crozier: On a point of order, President, I have been listening to the minister’s answer. This is a very simple question. It was about when the minister is informed that a child in the child protection system has been involved in a crime. I would ask you to draw her back to this very simple question and answer it.

The PRESIDENT: I think that in responding to the point of order the minister rejected the premise of the question, which makes it difficult.

Georgie Crozier: She is not informed.

The PRESIDENT: The minister has got a minute and 20 seconds.

Lizzie BLANDTHORN: I am rejecting the insinuation that those who are in the child protection system, those children and young people who have come from particularly complex, often traumatic lives, who are seeking refuge in a home – from a child protection perspective it is the role of child protection to provide them with that home. It is not a custodial setting, and it is not the responsibility of the child protection system to provide a custodial setting. In response to the insinuation that children who are in the care of child protection are indeed criminals, which is what those opposite would characterise them as, I use the AIHW data to show that eight in 10,000 is the number we are talking about, and indeed it is the lowest in the country.

 Georgie CROZIER (Southern Metropolitan) (12:47): President, that is the most extraordinary answer. This is a really simple question, and you interjected yourself saying that she is not informed.

Minister, on numerous occasions I have come in here and asked you questions which you continue to refuse to answer, like you have for this question, whether it is a child who is on bail or even these questions that whistleblowers in your own department are talking about. Minister, if the President has said, as he has asserted, you are not made aware, why won’t you insist that you are informed, given you are responsible for these children who are committing extremely serious crimes, endangering themselves and the community?

Michael Galea: On a point of order, President, it is not appropriate for Ms Crozier to be either misrepresenting or reflecting on the President.

The PRESIDENT: I was trying not to even breathe, so I did not interject on anything, but you can continue with your question.

Georgie CROZIER: I apologise for that. I thought you were saying that the minister said she was not informed. My question is: if you are not informed, why aren’t you informed? If you are informed, at what point are you informed?

 Lizzie BLANDTHORN (Western Metropolitan – Minister for Children, Minister for Disability) (12:49): The point I was making for those opposite is that the child protection system is indeed a system of child protection. The systems of corrective services, of youth justice and of bail are matters for those ministers with the responsibility for justice. What I am saying is that it is a responsibility of the child protection system to provide a safe home for those who cannot live safely in their own homes.

 Georgie CROZIER (Southern Metropolitan) (12:49): I move:

That the minister’s response be taken into consideration on the next day of meeting.

Motion agreed to.