The lack of care allocated to child safety by the Hodgman Liberal Government is a shameful indictment on the priority it places on children at potential risk and the children entrusted to its care.
Shadow Child Safety Minister Josh Willie said updated data released today shows 280 Tasmanian children had not been allocated to a child safety officer to ensure they were not at potential risk or receiving oversight to ensure quality care.
"This new information released today confirms data that had to be leaked from the department earlier this year for Minister RogerJaensch to take notice," Mr Willie said.
"But still, nothing has been done to ensure these children are protected.
"This data and the Report on Government Services released earlier this year confirm that Tasmania has become one of the worst performing states in the country when it comes to child safety response times and investigations.
"Investigations into the vast majority of reported cases of children at potential risk are not launched until 29 days or more after they are received.
"Only 20 per cent of reports were responded to within a week in Tasmania in 2017-18.
"Only 20 per cent of investigations were completed within a month during the same period with the great majority taking up to three months or more.
"This is an extremely dangerous situation and cries for help from the workforce for more staff are continually ignored.
"The Government has focused on reshuffling the decks with a new shiny place to take calls but support for children and families has not improved.
"The lack of care shown by the Hodgman Government in the Children's portfolio is disgraceful."
Josh Willie MLC
Shadow Child Safety Minister
