Page 2364 - Week 08 - Tuesday, 12 August 2014
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I certainly hope in this instance the government is correct and the blueprint will provide efficiencies within this area. But I will wait for the proof of the pudding. I hope this blueprint will not only provide efficiencies for the government but that it will also make interaction for community services providers easier and more streamlined. I hope the blueprint ensures community service providers in our city are able to do what they do best and be supported by the government. I hope this blueprint removes some of the red tape and bureaucracy that has always been an issue, but we will wait and see.
We also have Care and Protection Services within this directorate. It is one of those very complex areas of government that a blueprint is not going to fix. I do not stand here claiming there is a magic wand you can wave to have a perfect care and protection system, but I want to take a moment to reiterate how important this area is and express my disappointment that no action seems to be taken while we are letting down some of our most vulnerable citizens. In this budget expenditure for care and protection is increased by not even enough to cover CPI, which we all know means in real terms the funding for this area is going backwards.
Report after report has detailed how the care and protection system in the ACT is failing our most vulnerable children. We have heard many times about the systemic culture of cover-up and bandaid fixes that have allowed the service, which is supposed to protect our children, to fail time after time, yet the government has not made this an area of priority in this budget.
The Public Advocate’s interim report into the emergency response strategy for children in crisis in the ACT was released in October 2011. This report made recommendations to address the organisational and systemic changes in response to what was considered the deficiencies which exist in Care and Protection Services. Given the narrow scope of this initial review, it was assumed by most that the report did not paint the true picture of care and protection services but was simply an aberration.
At 6 pm, in accordance with standing order 34, the debate was interrupted. The motion for the adjournment of the Assembly having been put and negatived, the debate was resumed.
Sitting suspended from 6.00 to 7.30 pm.
MS LAWDER: Before we were saved by the dinner bell I mentioned that the Public Advocate’s interim report into the emergency response strategy for children in crisis in 2011 had painted a dark picture of care and protection services. The Public Advocate was quoted as saying:
My investigations revealed that there may be many more cases of systemic deficiencies and practice failures than I dare to think.
In 2012 we then saw the Public Advocate state in the final report:
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