Palaszczuk Government covers up Mason Lee report

Monday, 10 April 2017

  • Palaszczuk Government has today censored the truth about child safety’s handling of a child before his death
  • Labor’s failure to release the Mason review has been a disaster from the beginning
  • Palaszczuk Government has not made changes to the child safety system since Caboolture toddler Mason Jett Lee died

 

Two months after first promising to release the expert panel review, the Palaszczuk Labor Government has still failed to release the full independent report into Child Safety’s handling of Mason Lee prior to his death.

LNP Shadow Minister for Child Safety Ros Bates said this was a cynical move by Annastacia Palaszczuk and Shannon Fentiman and smelt like a cover up.

“What we have seen this afternoon is a Labor Government trying to censor the truth about child safety’s handling of a child before his death,” Ms Bates said.

“The Palaszczuk Labor Government has been sitting on these reports trying to cook up their response and are still hiding the answers.

“Queenslanders deserve to know the truth and we should have been advised before now where the problems were and what was being done to ensure no other child faces the same fate.”

Ms Bates said the Minister’s previous scapegoating of frontline staff had been unfair.

“Labor had overseen some of the worst performance numbers in the last two years and morale in the Department was at rock bottom,” she said.

“Based on the most recent numbers, 11 per cent of the most critical cases requiring a 24-hour response aren’t being seen to on time.

“On top of that, 74 per cent of at-risk children who should be seen within the recommended 5-10 day period are also being missed – this just can’t go on.

“Queensland is the second worst performing state in Australia – we’re even behind South Australia where there was a Royal Commission into child safety.

“We know from the leaked October data that the story only gets worse, with almost 4,000 cases of suspected child abuse being stuck in backlogs across the state.

“After two years of inaction, Annastacia Palaszczuk and Shannon Fentiman must fulfil their promise and release the Mason Lee report immediately so we can identify failings within our child protection system and ultimately make it stronger.

“Only the LNP will deliver a child safety system that builds stronger families.”