Damning Queensland Child Safety failures exposed in Royal Commission

Change must occur to protect vulnerable children

The Palaszczuk Labor Government’s abject failure to keep vulnerable children safe and their attempts to limit scrutiny on these failures have been sensationally exposed by the Disability Royal Commission.

An official submission from Counsel Assisting the Royal Commission hearings has made alarming findings, including:

• Queensland boys Kaleb and Jonathon experienced violence, abuse, neglect and deprivation of their human rights on the Queensland Government’s watch.
• The treatment they suffered was preventable and the Department of Child Safety was aware.
• Queensland departments should have acted to prevent their deprivation of human rights but failed to do so.
• The Queensland Government work with Kaleb and Jonathon to determine appropriate redress, including compensation.
• The Queensland Government deliberately commissioned an investigation that would not have full access to scrutinise the Government’s failures

At the time, the Palaszczuk Labor Government claimed they would “get to the bottom of what happened” and “the public rightly want answers and so do we”, however, it’s now clear the Government deliberately avoided scrutiny by appointing the Queensland Family and Child Commission to review the case.

A letter written by Attorney-General Yvette D’Ath’s has been published for the first time.

The letter proves the Labor Government knew full well that the Queensland Family and Child Commission did not have the powers to access “confidential information” which “may limit the extent and scope of the QFCC’s review.”

The Government covered-up the ugly truth about how these children had been failed in their time of need.

Shadow Minister for Child Safety Amanda Camm said the findings against the Palaszczuk Labor Government were damning and could not be ignored.

“Now the truth has been laid bare and Queenslanders deserve to know from the Minister and this Government that this broken system will be fixed before more children pay a high price,” Ms Camm said.

“Kaleb and Jonathon should never have been exposed to the violence and neglect they suffered, and Queenslanders will be shocked about the grave findings their human rights were abused.

“This Government never wanted Queenslanders to know how they had failed these two boys, despite their empty promises and hollow apologies.

“Today Minister Crawford needs to explain to Queenslanders what will be done to ensure this never happens again.

“Already we know the Child Safety system is in crisis, with over-worked, under-resourced Child Safety Officers and vulnerable children’s cases being left sitting on a desk.

“The Minister must outline a clear plan to fix the Child Safety Crisis that’s reaching fever-pitch in this State.

“Vulnerable children deserve better than the chaos and crisis they’re getting from this Labor Government.”