Wednesday, 29 May 2024

Child protection

Georgie CROZIER (Southern Metropolitan) (12:09): (542) My question is to the Minister for Children. Minister, it was revealed during the PAEC children hearing that there have been 215 reports of sexual abuse of children in residential care this year to date. Minister, what numbers must be reached before you do more to stop the scourge of vulnerable children being abused in residential care?

Lizzie BLANDTHORN (Western Metropolitan – Minister for Children, Minister for Disability) (12:10): I thank the member for her question – yet again. We have traversed this ground quite extensively in previous question times, and we traversed this ground quite extensively in PAEC last week as well. But I am happy to go there again for the benefit of the house. As I have said before, children who are in the child protection system – 17,000 on average on any given day, coming in and out of the care system – are some of the most vulnerable children in Victoria. Of those who are residing in residential care, they are certainly amongst those who have experienced the greatest levels of trauma and who are at a heightened risk of exploitation of all kinds. But it is important to note that the children in residential care are also not in a custodial setting – they are children in care. Children in care are afforded the same opportunities –

Georgie Crozier interjected.

Lizzie BLANDTHORN: If the member would like to listen to the answer, I am happy to assist. Children who are in care should be afforded the same opportunities to participate in social and community life as any other child, and that includes them being out and about in the community. What those on the other side of the house seem to be unable to do, though, is read a budget and read data. It is increasingly frustrating that our conversations around how we protect children in care are diminished by these questions. We know that we need to do more to help children and young people who are in out-of-home care, and that is why in the previous budget we invested more than half a billion dollars in therapeutic care. That investment in therapeutic care includes wrapping around every child in residential care therapeutic services. Importantly, it also includes the work that we are doing to disrupt paedophiles and predators who prey on children who are most vulnerable – who are out there in the community doing things that children do, from meeting their friends to other things. If predators and paedophiles are going to prey on those people in the community, then they must be disrupted. I would expect that that would be a bipartisan issue, not one that is diminished by the politics of this house and these types of questions, time and time and time again.

What this government is doing is investing record amounts of funding in ensuring that the children who are in our residential care settings have therapeutic supports wrapped around them. The investment that we are specifically making in trying to disrupt predators and paedophiles who prey on these vulnerable children has, as a result of last year’s budget, led to 13 sexual exploitation leads across the state. Every area of the state is covered, during hours and after hours, with the intention of disrupting these predators and paedophiles who prey on very vulnerable children. I would expect that that would be something that everybody in this place supports.

Georgie CROZIER (Southern Metropolitan) (12:13): Minister, I listened to your answer then, and it was very defensive. You have a responsibility as the minister in relation to these vulnerable children, so the questions will keep coming. I ask as my supplementary: regardless of residential care not being a custodial setting, there is an obligation under law for the state to act as a good parent. When will the government meet this obligation?

Lizzie BLANDTHORN (Western Metropolitan – Minister for Children, Minister for Disability) (12:13): As I said, it is disappointing that these issues get diminished by petty politics by those opposite. I am –

Georgie Crozier: On a point of order, President, the minister constantly used that phrase in her answer to the substantive question. She is debating the answer. These questions are important. I would ask the minister to come back and answer the very basic questions around what the government is doing to protect these vulnerable children.

The PRESIDENT: The minister had only just started her answer.

Harriet Shing: On the point of order, President, it would seem that Ms Crozier’s preamble to the supplementary required, quite reasonably, a response to be given. Should there be a reasonably straightforward question, it should be asked without that editorial, which Minister Blandthorn was responding to.

The PRESIDENT: Minister Shing is correct that the preamble forms part of the question. There were 7 seconds on the clock of 1 minute to respond, so I will call the minister to answer.

Lizzie BLANDTHORN: Thank you, President. I make no apologies for being defensive, because the children in our care system need people who are defending them day in, day out. That is exactly what our department is doing, working in collaboration with Victoria Police, and I am absolutely certain that the police take their role in disrupting paedophiles and predators very seriously.

But what I outlined in my substantive answer and will outline again is that we invested more than half a billion dollars in last year’s budget, which has led to the implementation of 13 sexual exploitation practice leads across all divisions. I met with one of them just last week in the south division, and I will be pleased to update you on that visit when I get to my ministers statement. But in the previous budget we invested more than half a billion dollars ensuring that we are wrapping supports, including supports to disrupt sexual exploitation of these vulnerable children, through the work of the department and in collaboration with the work of Victoria Police.