Desperate leaks within Queensland child protection system
Queensland’s Shadow Health Minister has revealed authorities working within the child protection system leak information out of desperation.
In a recent case reported by A Current Affair, a newborn baby girl allegedly suffered catastrophic injuries despite being identified as high risk and vulnerable.
It comes just weeks after the death of 4-year-old Willow Dunn who police allege suffered “sustained mistreatment”.
The Brisbane girl’s stepmother and father have been charged.
Shadow Health Minister Ros Bates told Ray Hadley the LNP had enough of seeing “murdered little children on the front pages of our newspapers”.
“Every time a child dies up here in Queensland in suspicious circumstances it doesn’t take long before police officers, child safety officers actually leak to the opposition to say that child was known to child safety, that child should never have gone home,” she told Ray Hadley.
“The warning signs were going off all the time.
“There are so many more little kids out there today who are waiting on child safety to come knocking on the door to come and save them.”
Ray said something needed to change.
“It’s hard to talk about – and think we are in Australia in 2020, that children at risk are treated in such a fashion. It is barbaric.”
Ms Bates said the LNP’s policy included a 24-hour child protection force and police embedded in the Child Safety Department.
“We have got to stop sending little kids back to bad parents in bad homes, putting them in danger and crossing our fingers and toes that nothing goes wrong,” she said.
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