Liberal’s failure to investigate child abuse alarming

Shadow Minister for Human Services Rebecca White said today the Liberal State Government’s failure to investigate thousands of reports of child abuse in Tasmania over the past year was alarming

“The Minister should be ashamed of these figures and commit to remedying them immediately,” Ms White said.

Labor has revealed that 5200 reports of child abused in the southern region alone have not been investigated and blamed savage budget cuts.

“That’s an astounding 470 reports of child abuse each month or almost 120 a week that have not been investigated.

“The safety of Tasmanian children is seriously under threat.

“For the Minister responsible Jacquie Petrusma to attempt to play down these alarming reports is very concerning and fails to acknowledge the seriousness of this issue.

“The Government simply doesn’t have the capacity to investigate the flood of alleged child abuse cases because it has failed to adequately staff child protection services.

“These children are in grave danger of slipping through the cracks because there is just not enough staff to cope.

“This is a government obsessed with cutting budgets to pay for its $400 million of election promises and nothing is off limits. The Department of Health and Human Services has been tasked with finding $210 million in savings.

“Protecting children from abuse should be a priority and the Liberals must recognise that.”
Rebecca White Shadow Minister for Human Services