Latest news with #AmandaCamm
ABC News
18-05-2025
- Politics
- ABC News
Queensland announces inquiry into 'broken' child safety system that spends $1 billion on residential care
The Queensland government has announced a commission of inquiry into the state's "broken" child safety system that it says is failing children in residential care at cost of $1.12 billion. The 17-month inquiry will be led by former Federal Court judge Paul Anastassiou KC, who was deliberately chosen for his expertise outside the state, the government said on Sunday. Queensland Premier David Crisafulli said the inquiry was critical to reforming the system for the sake of the community, and the 12,500 children currently in state care. "There is no coincidence that we have a broken child safety system and a youth crime crisis in this state, and we are determined to take action on both," he said. Before taking office last year, the Liberal National Party leader had promised to inject millions of dollars into the child safety system. But in the past six months, Child Safety Minister Amanda Camm said the government had uncovered new information that warranted a full, independent investigation. "This is about a generation of children that I believe through the information that I have uncovered has been failed by a broken child safety system," she said on Sunday. The announcement coincided with the release of the Children in Care Census 2024, which showed that almost a third of children in care had unmet needs to support their mental health. The census also found: Of the children living in care, 6,112 are placed with a kinship carer, or someone related or known to the family; 4,173 live with foster carers; and 2,212 are in residential care. The government says residential care costs have surged in the past decade, from $200 million in 2014/15 to $1.12 billion this financial year. It has laid the blame on the previous Labor government's increasing reliance on the Individual Placement Support (IPS), which it said was intended to be a short-term bridging response. Ms Camm said for-profit companies were receiving tens of millions of state funding to provide substandard residential care services. One company was audited after it was revealed it paid dividends of $5.25 million to three shareholders in the past financial year. "That is a company profiting from vulnerable children. That is a company that has taken advantage of a broken system," Ms Camm said. The minister, who took up her role last October, said she had not yet visited one of the for-profit facilities the government is criticising. "It is my plan in the coming weeks to undertake a visit to a for-profit facility and to let them know that currently, with the information that I have, they are formally on notice," she said. In de-identified case studies released on Sunday, a 13-year-old child named as Harriet was taken into care two days after their birth. Harriet has a number of disorders and attends mainstream school but generally only attends three days a week due to refusal, the government said. Since 2020, more than $4.5 million has been spent on Harriet's care, most of which was through an IPS. The total spent on Harriet's foster care was $35,091. Ms Camm said the previous government had focused on recruiting foster carers but not on retaining them. She said carers did not feel supported or properly resourced to give a loving home for needy children. "We want children in this state to know there is hope," she said. "That children can go on to have a good life, that they don't have to turn to a life of crime, that they won't be forgotten." Shannon Fentiman, shadow treasurer and minister for women, said Labor would work "cooperatively and collaboratively" with the commission of inquiry. However, she said it was "disappointing" the terms of reference don't include examining the reasons why more children are coming into care. "If we want to actually build a sustainable system that keeps kids safe, we have to be looking at the root causes of why kids are being neglected in their homes and why parents are unable to care for them," she said. Ms Fentiman said the previous government had spent millions on recruiting foster carers into the system, but the system had been overwhelmed by the number of children entering care. "No one could have predicted the massive surge of kids coming into care during COVID. That has not dropped off," she said. The Children in Care Census 2024 also found that before entering care: In a statement, Tom Allsop, chief executive officer of PeakCare, welcomed the inquiry and urged the government not to repeat mistakes of the past. "If we're serious about addressing the issues in the child safety system in Queensland, we need to start by taking early intervention and prevention seriously. Central to that is making sure children and their families are supported is during those crucial 0-8 years," he said. Luke Twyford, chief executive of the Queensland Family and Child Commission, said he looked forward to seeing how it would "compel action to deliver on reforms already recommended in the many inquiries, reports and inquests" seen to date. "This review process should be the time for a bold rethink of our approach to child safety, of the promise we make to children when they are removed from their birth parents, and how we use public money to deliver lifelong change to our state's most vulnerable people," he said.
ABC News
13-05-2025
- ABC News
Queensland police seek interstate child safety records after Toowoomba house fire that killed three children
Queensland detectives have requested records from interstate child safety authorities as part of investigations into a deadly Toowoomba house fire that killed three children, according to police sources. Ellouisa Brighton Gibson, 36, remains under police guard in the Brisbane Royal Women's Hospital after the fire at Merritt Street in Harristown last week. Her nine-year-old son was killed in the blaze, and her two daughters, aged four and seven, later died in hospital after suffering critical injuries. A 34-year-old man, an 18-year-old man and an 11-year-old boy who escaped from the fire have since been released from hospital. Police sources have told the ABC the incident was "out of the blue" and the family was not known to local officers and had no contact with child safety authorities. It is understood the family was known to child safety authorities in other states, and those records have been requested as part of the investigation. Queensland Minister for Child Safety Amanda Camm has asked her department to review its records as well. "The loss of three lives in Toowoomba is a tragedy and my heart goes out to the family and the community," she said in a statement. "I have instructed my department to undertake a complete and thorough investigation into this case." The Queensland Police Service said it would be some time before investigators are able to speak with the woman. The fire is being treated as suspicious and detectives from the Darling Downs, members of the homicide unit and specialist teams are assisting with the investigation.
Perth Now
30-04-2025
- Politics
- Perth Now
Fears new domestic violence police powers may backfire
There are fears sweeping news laws designed to tackle domestic violence may backfire and misidentify victims as perpetrators. Violence victims will be given fast-tracked police protection in Queensland for up to 12 months under legislation tabled to parliament on Wednesday. Officers will have powers to issue immediate police protection directions, which is also hoped to reduce trauma through exposure to the courts. The state government says the laws are urgently needed and have safeguards to protect against misidentification. Queensland Council of Social Services said police were regularly misidentifying perpetrators in domestic violence incidents. "That has been borne out in the police commission of inquiry, also the Death Review Board that looked at cases and found a large number where women had died and they had been misidentified as the perpetrator," CEO Aimee McVeigh said. "Our own sector ... we have countless case studies of women who have called out for help and who have, in the end, been identified as the perpetrator and not been provided with the protections that they need to ensure their safety." The service believes more victims of crime and victim-survivors of domestic and family violence will be criminalised under the laws. People who break the laws could face up to three years in prison. "This is about giving police the tools that they need to ensure that more victims are protected, that victims are protected in a timely manner, and that perpetrators are held to account," Domestic Violence Prevention Minister Amanda Camm said. She said the government was aware of concerns about misidentification. The legislation included safeguards such as rules on when the new powers could be used, particularly when dealing with Indigenous people and where children were involved, Ms Camm said. "We've heard loud and clear from both victim-survivors as well as the sector their concerns about misidentification," she said. "But what we can't do is continue down the path of doing nothing. We need change." Part of the new laws include GPS monitoring of 150 offenders under a pilot program from July 1 - a Liberal National Party election promise in 2024. The reforms are supported by Lloyd and Sue Clarke, whose painful family journey has already triggered landmark legislation in Queensland. In February 2020, their daughter Hannah Clarke and grandkids died when her estranged husband set them on fire in a car. Queensland became the second Australian jurisdiction to pass laws that criminalise coercive control following the horrific killings. Those laws take effect on May 26. "It should have been a line in the sand when we lost our family," Ms Clarke said. "We should not have any more murders happening and this, hopefully, may help to slow it down." 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732) Lifeline 13 11 14
