The Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services has advised that the review into Safe Pathways has been finalised.
The Government has been briefed by the Department and is satisfied there has been a comprehensive investigation of the concerns raised.
As part of that briefing, I have been advised that the Review recommended terminating the funding agreement between Safe Pathways and the Secretary, and that the Secretary has accepted this recommendation.
I reiterate that I requested the Department to investigate concerns raised in August 2016 about Safe Pathways, nearly three months prior to the ABC 4 Corners program.
During the review, I was assured by the DHHS that the children were safe.
Individual care placement contracts were severed between the Department and Safe Pathways in December 2016, as decided by the DHHS Secretary as the guardian of these children.
No children have been in the care of Safe Pathways since December 2016, there is no Government funding going to Safe Pathways, and there are no Safe Pathways carers engaged by the Department.
While I committed to release what I could from the review into Safe Pathways, and to act on any findings and recommendations, legal advisers have confirmed this Review cannot be released publicly due to the confidentiality provisions in s.103 of the Children Young Persons and Their Families Act 1997. *
I remind Labor, that it was under their watch that Out of Home Care programs were first outsourced to the private sector.
Furthermore, it was Labor and the Labor-Green Government that failed to act decisively on the over 600 recommendations from 15 reports into the child protection system, including a Parliamentary Inquiry which found that “children are falling through the gaps”.
It has taken the Hodgman Liberal Government to implement the Child Safety Services Strong Families-Safe Kids Implementation Plan which outlines the 30 actions we are implementing for vulnerable children.
*The letter from the Secretary to the Minister on the Safe Pathways investigation and recommendations are available to media upon request.