State Labor today questioned the curious timing around when the 151 child protection notifications ignored on the North-West Coast were made public.
“No action was taken on almost 90 family violence notifications and the Government has not adequately explained why it was not revealed when it first knew of it,” Ms White said.
“Was there a deliberate decision made not to inform the public of the crisis because it would have spoilt the Premier’s announcement on the Government’s response to family violence in the very same week?
“There is growing suspicion the crisis was not revealed because of how damning the timing was for the government.
“Children, families and the people who thought their calls for help were being answered were badly let down.
“The fact that Premier Will Hodgman and Human Services Minister Jacquie Petrusma will not apologies shows the arrogance of this government.
“The public now knows that 87 notifications related to family violence and 20 related to sexual abuse.
“Ms Petrusma tried again today to dismiss the risks facing these vulnerable children.
“There were serious allegations relating to very vulnerable children and eight cases still remain unresolved.
“Just because Ms Petrusma says most of the children subsequently came to no harm is no excuse for this appalling situation.”
Rebecca White MP Shadow Minister for Health
