Child Death Review Legislation Amendment Bill 2019
Plain English Summary
Overview
This bill creates a new independent Child Death Review Board and expands requirements for government agencies to review their involvement when a child known to Queensland's child protection system dies or suffers serious physical injury. It implements recommendations from the Queensland Family and Child Commission's review prompted by the death of 21-month-old Mason Jet Lee, replacing the existing Child Death Case Review Panels with a more independent, whole-of-system approach.
Who it affects
The bill primarily affects government agencies involved with vulnerable children -- Child Safety, Health, Education, Police and Youth Justice -- which must now all conduct and share internal reviews. It aims to better protect children in the child protection system by ensuring lessons are learned across the entire service system.
Key changes
- Establishes an independent Child Death Review Board within the Queensland Family and Child Commission, replacing the existing Child Death Case Review Panels
- Requires Queensland Health, the Department of Education, Queensland Police Service and the Department of Youth Justice to conduct internal reviews when a child they were involved with dies or suffers serious physical injury, in addition to existing requirements for Child Safety
- Creates cross-agency information sharing provisions allowing review-related confidential information to be shared between agencies and with the Board, overriding existing restrictions
- Gives the Board power to make public recommendations to government and non-government entities, monitor their implementation, and report annually through Parliament
- Requires mandatory Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander representation on the Board, including that either the chairperson or deputy chairperson must be an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander person
Bill Story
The journey of this bill through Parliament, including debate and recorded votes.
▸Committee18 Sept 2019View Hansard
Referred to Legal Affairs and Community Safety Committee
The Education, Employment and Small Business Committee examined the bill over two months, receiving six submissions and holding a public hearing with the Queensland Family and Child Commission and the Queensland Law Society. The committee unanimously recommended the bill be passed, finding broad stakeholder support for expanding the child death review system to include additional government agencies and establishing an independent Child Death Review Board. LNP members filed a statement of reservation supporting the bill's objectives but criticising the government for taking two and a half years to introduce it after the QFCC report was handed down.
Key findings (5)
- All submitters acknowledged the importance of protecting Queensland's most vulnerable children and supported the bill's objectives
- The expansion of internal review requirements to additional agencies (Health, Education, Police, and Youth Justice) was broadly supported by stakeholders
- Concerns were raised about the independence of internal reviews conducted by the agencies themselves, but the department argued self-reflection supports learning and continuous improvement
- The Australian Association of Social Workers argued non-government service providers should also be required to conduct internal reviews, though the government limited the requirement to government agencies
- The committee was satisfied that information-sharing provisions had sufficient regard to individual rights and liberties, noting there is no compulsion to provide information and no penalty for non-compliance
Recommendations (1)
- The committee recommends the Child Death Review Legislation Amendment Bill 2019 be passed.
Committee report tabled
▸Second Reading4 Feb 2020View Hansard
▸21 members spoke19 support2 mixed
Strongly supported the bill as Minister for Child Safety, highlighting the Palaszczuk government's investment in child safety and the importance of the new independent Child Death Review Board and expanded information sharing between agencies.
“Making this board both external and independent is an important reform to ensure not only transparency and accountability but also objectivity. I support it wholeheartedly.”— 2020-02-05View Hansard
As Attorney-General and bill sponsor, outlined the bill's establishment of an independent Child Death Review Board and expanded internal review requirements across key government agencies, defending it as a contemporary best-practice model for protecting vulnerable children.
“This bill reflects the Palaszczuk government's ongoing commitment to protecting Queensland's most vulnerable children.”— 2020-02-04View Hansard
Supported the bill, emphasising the importance of connectivity and information sharing between agencies to identify children who need help at the earliest opportunity.
“Not having transparency and information sharing between agencies would be like flying a plane without having your gauges on.”— 2020-02-05View Hansard
Announced opposition support for the bill but heavily criticised the government for taking three years to act on the QFCC's single recommendation following Mason Jett Lee's death, and criticised Labor's broader record on child protection.
“Does that three-year delay from this Labor government not say everything about their approach to child safety and our most vulnerable in Queensland?”— 2020-02-04View Hansard
Supported the bill, outlining its implementation of the QFCC recommendation and the establishment of the new Child Death Review Board to increase transparency and improve public confidence.
“The independent board and its ability to consistently make public system recommendations will increase transparency and improve public confidence.”— 2020-02-05View Hansard
Supported the bill as Minister for Police, emphasising the importance of protecting vulnerable children and the new board's ability to make public recommendations and request confidential information from any entity.
“Community safety is of paramount importance to our government, and that is why this legislation is being introduced.”— 2020-02-04View Hansard
Stated the LNP would not oppose the bill, supporting its objectives as fundamental to enhancing child safety, but criticised the government for taking two and a half years to introduce it and for failing to meet investigation time frames.
“The LNP considers the objectives of the bill to be fundamental in enhancing child safety and that is why we will not be opposing the bill.”— 2020-02-05View Hansard
Supported the bill's passage but strongly criticised the government for taking three years to implement the QFCC's recommendation, arguing the Labor government lacks accountability on child protection and questioning whether lives could have been saved had the government acted sooner.
“It is now more evident than ever before that Labor put protecting children in the too-hard basket. They always have. Their track record is evidence of this.”— 2020-02-04View Hansard
Supported the bill, emphasising the importance of the independent Child Death Review Board and expanded internal review requirements, while stressing that child protection is a shared community responsibility.
“I am of the view that, whilst it is important to identify any shortcomings in government processes or procedures, we should not minimise the role of an offender.”— 2020-02-05View Hansard
Supported the bill as a committee member, detailing the expansion of internal review requirements to additional agencies and the establishment of the independent Child Death Review Board to improve protections for vulnerable children.
“Any improvements to the protections and the systems that afford those protections to our most vulnerable are to be supported. We can never do enough to prevent such deaths.”— 2020-02-04View Hansard
Supported the bill but strongly criticised the government for taking nearly three years to bring it to debate, arguing the delay was inexcusable given the government's resources.
“Do you mean to tell me that, at a time when the Treasurer can take $100,000 to engage somebody outside to do her work for her, we could not find money and people in the government to do this work?”— 2020-02-05View Hansard
Supported the bill, expressing confidence that the new Child Death Review Board and expanded internal agency reviews would restore public confidence in Queensland's child death review system.
“I am therefore confident that these two mechanisms implemented through this bill will restore the public's confidence in Queensland's child death review system, as well as create a far more efficient system.”— 2020-02-05View Hansard
As shadow minister for communities, stated the LNP would not oppose the legislation but heavily criticised the government for taking 902 days to introduce it, arguing the delay put children at risk.
“There is simply no excuse for this Labor government to take 902 days to introduce legislation implementing the recommendation of the Queensland Family and Child Commission.”— 2020-02-05View Hansard
Supported the bill, arguing it was essential to bring other government agencies into the child death review process and highlighting the Palaszczuk government's child protection reforms since 2015.
“Child Safety Services may have statutory responsibility to protect Queensland children, but all agencies providing services to children have a duty of care to keep children safe.”— 2020-02-05View Hansard
As a former detective in the Child Abuse Unit, supported the bill but criticised the government for the outrageous delay in introducing it, arguing nothing could be more urgent than preventing child deaths.
“While this side of the House supports the bill, the length of time it has taken for Labor to introduce this bill is outrageous.”— 2020-02-05View Hansard
Supported the bill but expressed deep concern that the three-year delay in implementing the QFCC recommendation may have placed other children at risk.
“One could ask how many other children known to Child Safety could be alive today if this recommendation had been acted upon sooner. The answer to that question we will never know.”— 2020-02-05View Hansard
Supported the bill, emphasising that protecting children is everyone's responsibility and welcoming the expanded review model and independent Child Death Review Board.
“Protecting children is everyone's business and everyone's responsibility. It takes a village to raise a child, and we are all part of that village.”— 2020-02-05View Hansard
Supported the bill as a former police officer, but argued the child safety system under Labor has been broken for a long time and criticised the nearly three-year delay in bringing the reforms to parliament.
“Labor took two years to draft the bill, two months to garner stakeholder support and, at long, long last, in February 2020—nearly three years since the commission recommended urgent changes to prevent more deaths like Mason's—we are here in readiness to support what was needed three years ago.”— 2020-02-05View Hansard
Supported the bill but condemned the government for taking three years to bring it forward, noting the LNP introduced the QFCC which the Labor Party had originally opposed.
“I am not accepting the view that three years is an appropriate amount of time to take to get this right.”— 2020-02-05View Hansard
Supported the bill but argued the two-and-a-half-year delay showed protecting Queensland's most vulnerable had been an afterthought for the government.
“Safety and security do not just happen; they are the result of collective conscience and public investment.”— 2020-02-05View Hansard
Drawing on his experience as former assistant minister for child safety, supported the bill and the expanded role for the QFCC in reviewing child deaths, while criticising the member for Bulimba's earlier comments about the LNP's record.
“I am pleased to see the recommendation that the Queensland Family and Child Commission will undertake a more significant role in reviewing child deaths within Queensland, because that is not something that should be taken lightly.”— 2020-02-05View Hansard