CMC review of child protection progress

Child Safety Minister Desley Boyle today agreed with a new Crime and Misconduct Commission report which says the State Government has “shown remarkable commitment to improving child protection”.

Ms Boyle said: “This is a fair report which gives the Government and hard-working staff credit for the huge work done in creating a new child protection system and which quite rightly points out that there is more to be done.”

CMC Chairperson Robert Needham said the State Government had “shown remarkable commitment to improving child protection services in Queensland” and the new department “shows a resilience that was lacking in the old Department of Families” and “seems to have a greater capacity to identify failings in its operations and come up with remedies to fix these problems”.

Ms Boyle said that while the CMC report Reforming child protection in Queensland did find some problems the CMC rightly points out that these are not because of a lack of policy intent or financial commitment but are because of obstacles that are difficult to overcome.

“The CMC reviewed progress up until December 2006. A few months after that we completed all 110 CMC recommendations. The new Child Safety Department budget is $551.3 million – more than triple the amount spent on child protection four years ago. Our staff numbers have increased by 90% to more than 2300 staff.

“The two issues given as examples of where more work needs to be done centre on servicing Indigenous communities and attracting and retaining staff, particularly in remote areas.

“We are working to address these issues. We have announced a multi-million dollar program to base more child safety staff closer to remote Indigenous communities in the Cape and Gulf and establish “Safe Houses” for children in these communities.

“There is also an incentives package for staff working in rural and remote areas including rent assistance and an annual bonus of $10,000 a year.

“We will continue to work hard to strengthen child protection as we build a world-class system” Ms Boyle said.

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Media contact: 3224 7477

24 July 2007