The recent upsurge in the number of gangs of youth roaming the streets of Alice Springs at night has again thrown the crisis of child care in Central Australia into focus.
For the second successive Question Time – one in Darwin and now in Alice Springs – Child Protection Minister Malarndirri McCarthy has shown alarming ignorance of her portfolio.
The failure of the Labor Government’s child protection policies over the past eight years should have been front and centre in the Board of Inquiry’s terms of reference, says Shadow Minister Jodeen Carney.
Child protection comes second to government protection
Thursday, 12 November 2009
The Territory Opposition has renewed its attack on the Minister for Child Protection and the gaping hole in the terms of reference she has provided to the Board of Inquiry into the Child Protection System in the Northern Territory.
The Henderson Government’s failure to treat issues of child protection with the seriousness they deserve has been graphically illustrated in the Children’s Commissioner’s first annual report.
The announcement today of a Board of Inquiry into the Territory’s Child Protection system is a significant back-flip that raises further questions about the competency of Minister Malarndirri McCarthy.
The decision of the executive director of Families and Children to quit confirms the need for a fully independent inquiry into child protection in the Northern Territory.
Yesterday’s announcement by the Minister for Children and Families that the Children’s Commissioner would “provide a report on recent issues” is nothing new, says Shadow Minister, Jodeen Carney.
The Minister for Children and Families, Malarndirri McCarthy, has reneged on her commitment to the Shadow Minister for Children and Families to provide critical details regarding the Department’s performance in a case where an infant orphan sustained serious injuries.
