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Queensland is burdened with a “broken child safety system” that needs fundamental changes to prevent further harm to children.
That’s according to minister Amanda Camm, who spoke as a $20 million Commission of Inquiry into the Child Safety System kicked off in Brisbane on Wednesday morning.
The inquiry, which is expected to run for 17 months and travel across the state, will investigate failures in the institutions and processes that exist to protect young people – particularly those facing abuse or neglect.
Commissioner Paul Anastassiou at the opening of the commission of inquiry in Brisbane on Wednesday. Credit: AAP
“This is the commission of inquiry that Queensland needs,” the minister for child safety and the prevention of domestic and family violence said outside Brisbane Magistrates Court.
“We need to get to the bottom of … this broken child safety system.”
Given its wide scope, the commission is set to investigate everything from out-of-home care to safety in childcare centres, following multiple high-profile abuse allegations across the country.
“We need to get to the bottom of … this broken child safety system,” minister Amanda Camm said outside the inquiry.Credit: Matt Dennien
Proceedings kicked off in the Roma Street court about 10am on Wednesday.
More than 60 people – including public servants, police representatives, journalists, and at least one child with experience in the out-of-home care system – crammed into the level four courtroom as Commissioner Paul Anastassiou KC began.
“The paramount aim of this inquiry, as I see it, is to improve the lives of, and outcomes for, these children,” he said.
“If there is one matter about which we can all agree, it is the universal moral duty to care for, nurture and protect children and young people.”
The commission of inquiry gets underway at Brisbane Magistrates Court on Wednesday. Credit: AAP
The clatter of reporters typing and faint hum of an airconditioner were the only other sounds in the wood-panelled room as he continued.
“I would like to mention one thing that has come up in discussions with young people who have been in the system, and also with foster carers and support workers,” Anastassiou said.
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“The theme concerns the question of whether the carer’s duty to children and young people is matched by the authority of the carer necessary to effectively discharge that duty.
“Put slightly differently, the question is whether there is a disconnection between a carer’s duty of care on the one hand, and his or her authority necessary to fulfil and discharge their duty.”
The next public hearing will take place in late August or early September in Cairns.
The inquiry has powers to compel witnesses to testify, with procedures in place permitting anonymity under some circumstances.
A call for people and organisations across the state to prepare submissions for the inquiry was made by senior counsel assisting Robyn Sweet KC.
More than 3000 children were living in out-of-home care in Queensland last year, with Indigenous children significantly over-represented in those numbers.
Recommendations from the inquiry are due by November, 2026.
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