On the eve of an election and in the midst of Mark Bailey’s email scandal, Labor’s embattled child safety Minister Shannon Fentiman has quietly dropped the latest child safety performance data.
LNP Shadow Minister for Child Safety Ros Bates said this sneaky act by Annastacia Palaszczuk and Labor was another example of the lack of transparency from the government.
“Labor’s Shannon Fentiman this week refused to answer questions as to how kids in foster care were allegedly sexually molested by an approved blue card holder, raising more clouds over integrity,” Ms Bates said.
“The latest child safety data shows over 60 per cent or 12,829 investigations into suspect abuse did not start within the required timeframes.
“A record 10,533 child abuse investigations started in the last 12 months dragged on for more than 2 months despite the requirement to be completed within 60 days.
“In the last year we saw 165 children in care being further abused while under the protection of the Department, including 15 cases of sexual abuse.
“Even more staggering, the data shows that 45 per cent of parents who abuse their children were abused when they were younger.
“Under Labor we now see a record 1,509 carers walking away from the child safety system in just 12 months.
“It’s an indictment on the system when more and more carers of our most vulnerable are walking away.”
Ms Bates said the latest data showed that despite more than a $1 billion being spent on the system, abused children were still at further risk of harm.
“Queenslanders deserve better than a sneaky, do-nothing Labor Government that can’t be trusted to protect our most vulnerable children,” Ms Bates said.
“How much longer is Annastacia Palaszczuk going to protect this incompetent Minister while children are put at further risk of harm?
