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Gov set to progress flawed child safety bill on Budget Day

Joint media release: SACOSS, AMA (SA branch), Child and Family Welfare Association, Youth Affairs Council of SA, Council for the Care of Children, and the Child Protection Reform Movement.
 
The Government will likely attempt to progress the flawed Child Safety Bill on Budget Day today.  SACOSS and an alliance of experts have welcomed the intervention of the Opposition, Greens and other cross bench MLCs, particularly the Liberal Party’s recently proposed amendments. However we are calling on Parliament to delay the passage of this Bill until promised prevention and early intervention measures are drafted.
 
In response to criticism, the Government had promised a second complementary Bill to prevent child abuse and neglect, but there has been limited progress on this front. The alliance continues to stress that investments in services and activities which can intervene early to prevent children and young people reaching the point where they need to be removed from their families, are fundamental to the successful reform of our child protection system.
 
We believe there are big risks attached to passing the current Bill before being able to consider the substance of the proposed second Bill because it has little focus and attention on these issues. We are therefore calling for both Bills to be presented together.
 
In addition, there are still problems with the current Bill and amendments including the issue of whether or not the Bill satisfies our international obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. This Convention specifies that child-related legislation must take into account the best interests of the child. The Bill has also been criticised for failing to reinstate the Aboriginal Placement Principles in line with recommendations from the Bringing Them Home Report.
 
“South Australia has seen repeated failures on child protection. Now is the time to do things differently. We are deeply concerned that the current Child Safety Bill will not prevent child abuse and neglect and therefore welcomed the idea that a second piece of legislation to address this” says Ross Womersley, CEO of SACOSS.
 
“Given the challenges in getting this bill amended, we believe it would be foolish for the parliament to proceed to pass the legislation without sighting the complimentary legislation.”
 
“A failure to act on prevention as urgent complementary legislative reform will consign South Australia’s beleaguered child protection system to more of the same with little prospect of any real improvement to the lives and opportunities of our children and young people”  said Council for Care of Children Chair Simon Schrapel AM..
 

Published Date: 
Thursday, 22 June 2017