Thursday, 4 June 2026

 Lizzie BLANDTHORN (Western Metropolitan – Minister for Children, Minister for Disability) (12:11): This week the Victorian Auditor-General’s Office and the Commission for Children and Young People have tabled reports into the child protection and Orange Door systems, which the Minister for Prevention of Family Violence and I will duly consider. We thank them for their reports. They have been developed over a period of time, and recent reforms, whether it be reforming foster care, the investment in this budget or legislating the supporting stable and strong families scheme, demonstrate that the government is already at work in relation to the matters canvassed. Their findings and recommendations must be considered within this context.

I also acknowledge that the Auditor-General’s report stated that the rate of children in out-of-home care fell slightly, from an average of 6.5 in 2021 to 6.4 in 2025; that our growth in kinship placements is consistent with the placement principles; that while there are children under 12 in residential care, the number has fallen, and this reduction reflects the department’s focus on placing younger children with families rather than in residential care settings; and importantly, that the proportion and number of children in residential care is relatively stable. These are positive findings, and I thank our frontline practitioners, each and every one of them, for the work that they do.

In relation to the Commission for Children and Young People’s report, the commission themselves have stated in the report that the commission makes no causal link between service provision and the death of a child, as this is the role of the coroner. When discussing this topic, that statement must be front of mind. It is not the role of that report or others in this place to suggest that a child protection worker is causally connected to the death of any child. To suggest otherwise demonises these essential workers. It is only this side of the house who backs them in. We have funded 1180 child protection workers since coming to government, and we are seeing the results: improved allocation rates, lower case loads and more frontline practitioners on the ground helping families each and every day.

But there are alternatives. Under those opposite, child protection practitioners are not defined as frontline workers. They will be subject to their cuts if they get the chance. What this would mean for families is terrifying. An Auditor-General’s report from when they were last in government will assist. It found those opposite had the residential care system ‘operating over capacity’ and ‘unable to respond effectively to the level of demand and the increasing complexity of children’s needs’.