Child protection
Georgie CROZIER (Southern Metropolitan) (12:04): (502) My question is for the Minister for Children. Minister, a recent Productivity Commission report shows that Victoria’s spending per child in child protection has decreased in real terms from $111,205 in 2017–18 to just $84,446 in 2022–23, a cut of $19,737 per child. Minister, why has the Allan Labor government cut funding for vulnerable children in child protection?
Lizzie BLANDTHORN (Western Metropolitan – Minister for Children, Minister for Disability) (12:05): I thank Ms Crozier for her question and for the opportunity to talk about the record investment of this government in child protection – a $3.1 billion investment since the 2019–20 state budget, and the 2023–24 budget alone included the $895 million to further protect vulnerable children and their families. As part of that there was a record investment – more than half a billion dollars – in delivering better outcomes in particular for children in residential care, with the record investment in therapeutic care. So at the outset I absolutely reject the premise of the question – which seems to be a bit of a pattern, and I am sorry to the chamber for that – but I would appreciate if those opposite perhaps did a little more due diligence in asking their questions in the first instance.
I am also pleased to acknowledge that Victoria continues to have the lowest rate of children in out-of-home care at 6.3 per 1000 compared with the national average of 7.9 per 1000. That is despite the fact that we have this record level of investment. So it is very easy to pick up a report or pick up a headline, perhaps as we did yesterday as well, or a press release and run with it, but it would actually serve those opposite well if they would actually do the due diligence to understand and give the children and the families that we serve through our child protection and family services system the respect that they deserve – by doing their due diligence in the first place.
We will not be lectured by those opposite. In order to strengthen families and to divert children from entering care in the first place, the Victorian government is absolutely transforming the care system and in so doing is creating a diverse range of flexible and evidence-informed early interventions that allow us to respond to the needs of children and their families at those crucial points in time to ensure that they do not become entrenched in the child protection system and that we get them the fundamental help and services that they need at the time. That is also why we have invested far more than those opposite ever though to invest. We have tripled the investment in family services from $120 million per annum in 2012–13, when those opposite were in government, to more than $398 million per annum in 2023–24. So if we want to talk about investment in child protection and we want to talk about the number of children who are in child protection, we want those opposite to do their due diligence rather than harking back to those days of 2013–14 and look at the record investment that our government has made in protecting children and their families.
Georgie CROZIER (Southern Metropolitan) (12:07): I think it is pretty clear what the Productivity Commission report’s findings were, and I would have to say that I would take that into greater consideration than the minister’s answer just then. Nevertheless, the report also showed that Victoria has dropped to second last in terms of real recurrent spending per child in care compared to other jurisdictions. Given the well-known problems within Victoria’s residential care system – and there are many, as we know, as those reports come out each and every day – why has the Allan Labor government underfunded this system compared to other Australian states?
Lizzie BLANDTHORN (Western Metropolitan – Minister for Children, Minister for Disability) (12:08): The questions opposite never cease to amaze me. Perhaps we all wish that Dr Bach was back here, but sadly he is not. We explored this issue when there were a series of questions in relation to the ROGS some months back, and I was expecting this question back then but it never came. Through the 2023–24 state budget we invested heavily in child protection. The 2023–24 data is not included in those reports. So, one, it does not reflect the investment of the last budget, that record investment that takes it to well over $3.1 billion. And if we want to specifically talk about the residential care system, there was more than half a billion dollars in the last budget to ensure that every child who is in residential care has therapeutic supports wrapped around them. That is something that Dr Bach understood was most important and was most supportive of, including if we go back and look at his last speech, but it is perhaps something that those opposite have not yet taken the time to understand.