Queensland again tops new spending on child protection

For the second year in a row Queensland has led the nation for increased spending on child protection, according to the Report on Government Services (ROGS) released today.

Child Safety Minister Desley Boyle said that trend looked set to continue with the Child Safety Department given a record budget of $503 million for 2006-07.

“However this report only looked at spending in the previous year and showed Queensland spent $344 million on child protection in 2005-06 up from $290 million in 2004-05.

“As a nation Australia increased child protection and out-of-home care spending by just over $96 million in 2005-06.

“More than half of this new money - nearly $55 million - was spent by Queensland.

“In other words Queensland spent more new money on child protection than the other states and territories combined.

“The report also showed that for every child in the general population of Queensland we spent $350 on child protection and out-of-home care which was well above the national average of $287 per child,” Ms Boyle said.

Ms Boyle said leading the nation for increased expenditure for two years running showed Queensland is serious about protecting at risk children.

“There was a big injection of funds when the new Child Safety Department was created and we’ve continued to follow that up with further big increases.

“We are turning the corner with child safety in Queensland by increasing staff numbers, improving training, and putting better systems in place,” Ms Boyle said.

Ms Boyle urged caution when examining some of the figures in the report.

“States and territories record their child protection information in different ways which makes some comparisons very difficult.

“Queensland is leading a project to come up with a more consistent approach. I look forward to the day when around the country we can compare apples with apples when it comes to child protection information.

“For those interested in more detail there will be comprehensive statistics in our report Child Protection Queensland 2005-2006 to be released in March,” Ms Boyle said.

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