Child protection staff in the State’s north are clearly fed up with the Liberal Government’s approach to the portfolio, with the system perpetually at breaking point due to under-resourcing and unsustainable case loads.
Given the critically important work Child Protection workers do, it must have been an extremely difficult decision to initiate industrial action.
It is disappointing that Minister Petrusma has dismissed workers’ claims that their case loads are too high and the system is manifestly under-funded.
In two State Budgets so far, the best the Minister can say is that child protection was ‘quarantined from cuts’ to the public sector.
It is obvious to people working in the system, and to all Tasmanians who still cannot understand how 151 child protection notifications could be ignored in the North West, that increased funding is desperately needed.
With a projected $560 million GST windfall available, this government has no excuse not to appropriately fund the system so it can properly protect at-risk children, wherever they live in Tasmania.
Cassy O’Connor MP | Greens Leader and Human Services spokesperson
