AUSTRALIA: Ombudsman slams govt agencies for failing children

Summary: Over 700 children have had unsupervised contact with 376 registered sex offenders due to failures by government agencies.

[9 January 2011] - The Ombudsman savaged government agencies for putting the rights of sex offenders above those of vulnerable children.

Its damning report to Parliament found more than 700 children spent unsupervised time with 376 registered sex offenders over the past six years because of bungling by government agencies.

Under Victorian law, registered sex offenders must tell police when they have had unsupervised contact with a child and when there are changes to their living arrangements that involve children.

Victoria Police is then required to notify the Department of Human Services (DHS) so it can check on the child's safety.

The Ombudsman concluded that at least one child had been abused because of the failure of police to report the contact to the department.

Police Minister Peter Ryan will chair the taskforce and says government agencies will have to change their priorities.

"I can understand how in their mind they had a concern about the operation of these programmes from a longer-term perspective, but it is the interests of those children who are involved in this reporting process which are the absolute paramount interest," he said.

"We are going to look after them. It is utterly unacceptable that a report of this nature should be tabled in the Parliament of Victoria.

"We intend to fix these issues and we will do so as soon as we possibly can in whatever means is necessary to achieve the required result."

But he says he does not see the need for anyone from the police, DHS or the prison system to be sacked.

Victoria Police would not speak to the media today, but released a statement saying it "deeply regretted the failures that occurred and that since last year it has been reporting all instances of unsupervised contact to the department and had also streamlined its database".

It also pointed out that it asked the State Government for more money to run the sex offenders programme in 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009, but that those requests were all turned down.

The police statement also says it does not agree with the Ombudsman's suggestion that shortcomings in the management of the programme were due to a lack of commitment in the force.

'Systemic breakdown'

The Ombudsman's report says Corrections Victoria and the DHS had a standing agreement not to share information without the prior consent of the sex offender.

The Ombudsman criticises the DHS for agreeing to the arrangement and found the situation left children "exposed to unacceptable risk".

The report says the failing represents a "systemic breakdown in the management of registered sex offenders".

It also says the agencies involved breached their obligations under Victoria's Charter of Human Rights and recommends changes to the applicable guidelines and legislation.

The state's Child Safety Commissioner, Bernie Geary, says the rights of sex offenders are being protected at the expense of the state's most vulnerable children.

He says the findings highlight the need for urgent reform.

"We need to be looking at this in a way that legislatively protects children who are the most vulnerable in this situation and so their rights need to be paramount," he said.

Australian Childhood Foundation chief executive Joe Tucci says the report shows the system works against children, not for them.

"The fact the Department of Corrections and the police and child protection, all three didn't actively do anything to make sure that these known sex offenders were investigated properly, shows to me the culture and the priority put on the protection of children isn't at the foremost of thinking at the heads of these bureaucracies," Dr Tucci said.

The Bracks and Brumby governments oversaw Victoria's child protection system for 11 years.

Now in Opposition, Labor ministers made no comment on the Ombudsman's findings today.

 

Further Information:

pdf: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/02/09/3134404.htm?section=justin

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