The Government tables the Cummins Report after sitting on it for weeks and makes a raft of re-hashed announcements including establishing a Taskforce.  What Next - a few inter departmental committees.  very Yes minister...

'The jobs look like a re-announcement with funds from last year which was a Labor announcement from the year before.'

'Expanding the number of mandated reporters with no relief for case workers from their unsustainable workloads only increases the risk to children.'

'More committees with a taskforce now to follow the inquiry and an expanded Bernie Geary while support to front line service deliverers is cut.'

(DHS is cutting 500 jobs.)

'The Minister has already been forced to hand back $39 million for failing to negotiate an outcome on her new operating model and now the future for children at risk is reliant on her securing the necessary funds from a Treasury that has refused to do this since the Kennett era.'

Ends .....



                                                                                                                        
  From:       Gill Callister                                                                                            
                                                                                                                        
  To:         All DHS Staff                                                                                             
                                                                                                                        
  Date:       28/02/2012 03:58 PM                                                                                       
                                                                                                                        
  Subject:    Message from the Secretary - final report of Protecting Victoria’s Vulnerable Children Inquiry            
                                                                                                                        

The Minister for Community Services today tabled in Parliament the final report from the Protecting Victoria’s Vulnerable Children Inquiry.

The Government is immediately committing to leading the development of a Vulnerable Children and Families Strategy to respond comprehensively to the report. A new, high-level committee of Ministers will develop the strategy.

The Government is also committing an initial $61.4m over four years to:

   Ø    Recruit 42 additional child protection practitioners

   Ø    Expand Child FIRST and family support services in areas of extreme demand

   Ø    Establish three new multidisciplinary centres to respond to child sexual abuse.

These immediate action areas have been directly informed by the Inquiry’s report.

The Government’s full response to the report will be released in due course.

Over the past year, the Inquiry panel, chaired by the Hon. Philip. D. Cummins, together with Emeritus Professor Dorothy Scott OAM and Mr Bill Scales AO, consulted with a broad cross-section of the Victorian community by conducting:

   o    18 public sittings throughout Victoria (including regional areas), involving more than 130 presentations, 200 speakers and more than 900 pages of transcript.
   o    Multiple consultations with Victoria’s child protection workforce and community service organisations; children and young people; Aboriginal and other culturally and linguistically diverse organisations.
   o    3 workshops with the Inquiry Reference Group.
   o    2 meetings with frontline child protection practitioners.
   o    About 100 other meetings and visits, including the Children’s Court, public sector agencies, independent experts and non-government service providers.

The Inquiry also received more than 220 written submissions.

The final report from the Inquiry is comprehensive – it is over 700 pages long and contains 90 recommendations.

The report’s main finding is that all parts of government need to work together to help vulnerable children and families earlier. There needs to be more targeted investment to stem the flow of families into crisis. Every government funded service needs to be accountable and play its part.

The report reinforces our reform agenda for more locally-based service delivery. I am confident that the restructure of the Department of Human Services which I proposed last week would see us well placed to support the Government’s immediate commitments and full response to the report.

I would like to extend my sincere thanks to colleagues who provided data and information to the Inquiry panel over the past year. Many people centrally worked very hard to provide information and regional colleagues also embraced the opportunity to put forward views on how services for vulnerable children and families could be improved. The contribution from frontline child protection workers was invaluable.

The report finds much that is good about the current system which can be built on through improvement and expansion. It also presents further opportunities to make the system we run the best it can be.

The Inquiry’s final report can be downloaded here.


Gill Callister
Secretary