Dr WOODRUFF – Premier, you read out some of the things that the government has been doing in response to the commission of inquiry’s recommendations, and they’re noted – as you promised you would do in the timelines. But there’s 27 very important recommendations that your government had committed to delivering in the timeframe recommended by the commission of inquiry that you are no longer going to do. I draw your attention to the quarterly report of Keeping Children Safe. Most concerning is 9.16: the commission of inquiry’s recommendation to make sure that all children in care have a case manager, set a maximum caseload for child safety officers, and regularly publish relevant data. That was meant to have been delivered by July next year. You have pushed that off until 2027, without a date. There’s no date in 2027. It’s an open amount of time. It’s a key recommendation that the government I know has been working on for two years and it is a funding related issue that is being pushed back. How can you justify the priorities that your government is making about not putting money into that critical area?
Mr ROCKLIFF – Well, we are investing in the critical area, Dr Woodruff, and you know that. It is a key area of priority. I want to commend our teams across government for the implementation of 57 of the 191 recommendations. They’re working very closely with Robert Benjamin, who’s keeping us accountable, of course, to monitoring our implementation progress.
But if you’re saying this is not a priority, I don’t agree with you. I reject that. It is a priority for us.
Dr WOODRUFF – It’s about children who are in care just having a child safety officer appointed to them, because there is a huge list. There remains a huge list despite the commission of inquiry’s findings and you saying that you would respond to them. It should have been done by July next year. That means that your government is allowing children in care to continue, for at least another year ‑ it could be 18 months beyond the timeframe that the commission of inquiry said ‑ without even a commitment to having a single child safety officer appointed to them, let alone setting a maximum for child safety officers ‑ the maximum number of children that they can have on their caseload, which has ballooned and means that children are not getting checked up on. This is a basic recommendation, it requires money, and your government is prioritising cuts and this is one of them.
Mr ROCKLIFF – No, we’re not prioritising cuts. That’s not true.
Dr WOODRUFF – Well, that’s what the Treasurer has said he will do and will do more of next year.
Mr ROCKLIFF – That’s not true, not prioritising cuts. They are prioritising children and that’s why we’ve gone through the commission of inquiry. A total of 57 recommendations have been completed and we’ll continue to implement all 191 recommendations. Some timelines will probably be shorter and some will be longer, but we want them all to be delivered as soon as possible, I hasten to add. I might just throw to the secretary to comment on that. The question’s an important one. Could you give some insight, Kath, across the State Service?
Ms MORGAN-WICKS – Thank you, Premier. I note that Minister Palmer and the secretary for DECYP would have the detailed information about the recruitment of caseworkers. As head of the State Service I’m obviously aware of the incentive package that was put together by former minister Jaensch in discussion with unions to support the recruitment, particularly in very difficult areas like the north‑west, in terms of attracting. We’ve seen some significant increases in the number of caseworkers that have been recruited by the department and certainly that’s the continuing advice of the department through to our industrial committee.
Dr WOODRUFF – Thank you for that. Maybe you can speak to this, Premier. I don’t understand the explanation in your report. Your explanation says:
A long‑term phasing approach will not meet the commission of inquiry recommendation deadline and risks undermining the department’s ability to deliver timely, effective and consistent support to children, young people and their families.
That is a cut and paste that has accidentally been put in the wrong column, because you’ve actually pushed out the timeline and made it go longer. That has happened in a couple of places in this report. It has obviously been done in such haste that there have been cuts and that is why this will not be delivered, because it’s about assigning more workers, and that is exactly what’s happening here. I really want to draw your attention to what’s going on in areas that are not your responsibility, but you are responsible for the priorities in the Budget, and the commission of inquiry recommendations are being pushed back on this key area and just throws money away.
CHAIR – Before you answer that, Premier, what is the question as your second question, Dr Woodruff?
Dr WOODRUFF – The question is are you aware of what’s going on here that significant commission of inquiry recommendations are being pushed back? Is it a budget-related decision that this has happened?
Mr ROCKLIFF – There are no cuts.
Dr WOODRUFF – To where?
Mr ROCKLIFF – This area of responsibility.
Dr WOODRUFF – But there are, because every part of the State Service is having cuts. We’ve confirmed that in Question Time.
Mr ROCKLIFF – It is an absolute priority of ours. I believe I went through this the other day in Question Time. There are no cuts to this area. The fact that you’re reading that report is a demonstration of the level of accountability that we need to uphold so that you can ask questions around these matters and people are being provided regular updates. It keeps everyone accountable right across government. It keeps the opposition parties accountable l for asking the questions and providing scrutiny. That’s progress in itself.
On the matters you’re particularly talking about, I believe Ms Morgan-Wicks was getting to the original intent of your question.
Ms MORGAN-WICKS – The department has appointed Peter Whitcomb and Tiffany Black as expert leaders in this area and they are leading the reform. They’ve worked together with the industrial committee to make sure there is an additional incentive for workers to be recruited and they’ve been successful in recruiting. The advice to me is that there is no budget efficiency dividend being sought from this area because of the priority as a commission of inquiry recommendation.
In terms of timeline, on the advice of the department the recommendation has been moved from mid 2026 to 2027, but we continue to work closely with them in relation to that timeline and what will be required. If additional funding is required to hire additional caseworkers, that is a matter for the department to put back to the budget committee and to make that request.
Dr WOODRUFF – Premier, I want to go back to the commission of inquiry recommendations. I know this is not your portfolio area, but I also know that there are some incredibly concerning details here that we think you need to be aware of about the delay on some of the actions that were promised to be taken in line with the commission of inquiry’s recommendations, that are clearly lacking the energy and the time and the resources needed to get them done.
One of them, 9.19, is about developing a separate professional conduct policy for staff who have contact with children and young people in child safety services’ out‑of‑home care, setting expected standards of behaviour for volunteers, contractors, carers, et cetera. It beggars belief that this is being pushed back for up to 18 months. It’s about developing a policy to set the standards, it’s meant to be delivered by the end of July next year. It’s been pushed back for up to 18 months – 2027. How can you not be concerned about that? This is about setting standards of care.
Mr ROCKLIFF – Okay, but we need to acknowledge the enormous amount of work that has been done: the 57 recommendations and the enormity of the work and the complexity associated with such a large body of work. I commend all our public service for the work they’ve done under very arduous and very necessary circumstances.
We’ve been open and honest about our level of accountability in terms of you asking these questions, because of a document that I released last Friday. So, there’s no lack of transparency here. If I could implement all the recommendations tomorrow, Dr Woodruff, I would, but sometimes, for whatever reasons, it’s just not humanly possible. There’s no funding shortfall, there’s no cuts. We need to invest in these areas of priority to ensure that we do implement the recommendations.
Now, in terms of any specific recommendations you might have, and I can refer them to the head of the State Service. That’s who would have all knowledge of these matters, particularly because it’s a whole‑of‑government focus. Our minister for Children will also be able to address some of these matters. Kath, do you have anything –
Dr WOODRUFF – Before you do that, Premier, if you wouldn’t mind, I accept and welcome the work of the staff that are working on it. The question is about the choices that your government is making. I don’t want to go into political space on this issue, but there is no doubt, millions of dollars and so many staff have been used to get a stadium together. I cannot accept that if there weren’t more resources, time and money put into employing staff to make sure this stuff is delivered on time, that it couldn’t also be delivered.
That is really my question, is that what we’ve got a commitment from Treasurer Abetz to cut more money out of the budget? Will you commit that there is not a single agency area that will be responsible for delivering commission of inquiry recommendations that will have any efficiency cuts?
Mr ROCKLIFF – I’ve made it pretty clear from the beginning that we need to provide the resources to implement the recommendations. That’s always been clear. There will always be areas right across government that need attention of government. We have the major concerns with the future of our smelters in Tasmania. That’s an area of government that’s taking that particular focus as well. There are always areas that will need to be addressed across every agency. I just have to keep going with all the matters that are on our desks that need our attention. This is very, very important. I accept that. We agree on that. I am going to throw to ‑
Dr WOODRUFF – Just to the question, before you do. Will you commit to not having any of these areas that are looking to managing the commission of inquiry recommendations, have any austerity cuts, efficiency cuts, whatever you want to call it, in forthcoming budget years?
Mr ROCKLIFF – I commit to implementing the recommendations, which will require intensive resources. I’m not wanting to skimp on anything ‑ we just need to implement all the recommendations.
Ms MORGAN-WICKS – Through the Premier. In terms of this budget, the investment in commission of inquiry is actually increased, from $424.5 million over the forwards to over $600 million.
Regarding it being a priority of government, and our advice to government in relation to this expenditure, we absolutely remain committed to implementing each of the recommendations. I sit down regularly with Robert Benjamin to work through each of the recommendations. I sat down with him and talked to him about the changes in timing for some of the recommendations, as DECYP is embarking on what is an historic reformation of their out‑of‑home care system.
They’ve appointed leading experts as staff, and we are very lucky to have them, and no doubt the minister and secretary and those staff can speak to the change. Certainly, in relation to the timing for a professional conduct and care policy, there is one in place already for DECYP. It is provided, is my understanding, in terms of carers that are engaged.
However, this is about the actual model and the change to out‑of‑home care, and how Stage 2 will include the development of those supplementary standards, and have those volunteers engage professionals and contracted staff actually trained in it. It’s not to say that we don’t have one ‑ there is actually one that is now in place in DECYP, and certainly a standard to which we expect existing people operating in out‑of‑home care to adhere to.
