Annastacia Palaszczuk’s embattled Child Safety Minister has refused to take responsibility for key failings in her Department.
Shadow Child Safety Minister Ros Bates said after weeks of crisis in her Department coming to a head with revelations of more child deaths Shannon Fentiman still refused to accept her Department was in crisis.
“Shannon Fentiman said she was briefed by her Department in October last year on child abuse backlogs but it failed to rate a mention in her Ministerial diary,” Ms Bates said.
“It’s unbelievable a meeting so important and involving critical directions for departmental action to address child abuse investigation backlogs wasn’t logged in the Minister’s diary and her explanation sounds all too convenient.
“Where were the KPIs out of this meeting or the milestones for success to address the backlog crisis and was this meeting even recorded at all?”
Ms Bates said it was the same briefing Ms Fentiman was apparently briefed on the backlog crisis at the Caboolture Child Safety Service Centre but it had been left out of her diary.
“Over the past week Shannon Fentiman has denied a Child Safety crisis and has abandoned providing extra resources to address the growing investigations backlog meltdown,” she said.
“Children at risk of abuse and those in state care deserve a Minister who is focussed on protecting them and ensuring the system works for them, not against them.
“If the Minister hadn’t been so busy spinning numbers to justify failings on her watch, we might not have this crisis.
“It would appear the Minister is more interested in weekend getaways than taking responsibility for her Department.”
