The Minister for Child Protection has failed to recruit 240 promised new child protection workers, according to the Auditor-General.
The Minister will undergo questioning in Parliament today over the revelations in the Auditor-General's Annual Report. It finds:
“DCP budgeted to expand its workforce with an additional 340 FTEs to be recruited in 2018-19, but actually only recruited an additional 100 FTEs.”
Page 58, Part C: Agency Audit Reports
It comes as the Guardian for Children and Young People last week delivered a scathing report to Parliament finding Minister Sanderson’s Department is ‘in crisis’ and poor decisions made on a day-to-day basis are a ‘betrayal’.
There are now 4040 children in state care – 257 more than when Minister Sanderson took office.
Quotes attributed to the Shadow Minister for Child Protection Jayne Stinson
Rachel Sanderson needs to explain why she fell short of hiring 340 promised new workers – failing to hire even a third of her intended recruitment.
Workers in the Department for Child Protection are already stretched. Failing to fully staff the Department puts extra strain on hardworking employees and increases the risk of mistakes and poor decisions.
Which frontline operational and professional roles has the Minister failed to recruit? Why has she failed to hire the 240 promised staff? And importantly, when will they be recruited?
It’s also important that we find out whether the shortfall in staff has led to any failures to investigate reports of neglect or abuse. Have any children in state care missed out on proper care because of a lack of frontline workers?