A tense Estimates hearing has revealed more than 6400 child safety cases were left untouched following a major IT failure, while critical domestic violence funding was redirected to other portfolios. <\/p>\n
Minister Amanda Camm is under mounting pressure after refusing to disclose how many children have been harmed in state care, as her department also confirmed the peak disability council has sat vacant for an entire year.<\/p>\n
FOLLOW THE BLOG BELOW >>><\/p>\n
DG DEFENDS SHORT-CHANGING SERVICE<\/p>\n
8.55PM: Director-General Belinda Drew defended the funding for counselling services, which is set at $167 an hour despite costing $193 an hour.<\/p>\n
Ms Drew said the lower funding allocation would not impact service delivery or the number of counselling hours provided to DFV victim survivors.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe service being provided currently is provided through contracts which have set levels of service in them, so set levels of output, if you like,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will continue to work with them (services) to negotiate where there might be \u2014 and there are underspends across the network of services \u2013 the renegotiation of the use of those for where the services are operating at higher cost. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe will work closely at an individual level with each of those organisations.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ms Drew confirmed that the Housing Connectors program had ceased.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat previous national partnership agreement has concluded, and we are in the process of finalising the new project plan under that agreement,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, as with any pilot program, when funding comes to an end, often those pilot programs do as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
But when asked to provide the Housing Connectors report due last year, Ms Drew said she was unable to table that report.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t believe I can table that report,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Ms Drew said the department was looking at a \u201cwhole range\u201d of shelter work to support DFV victim survivors, including a project with \u201cWorkUp\u201d to enhance equitable access to shelters.<\/p>\n
$10.5M IN DV FUNDING REALLOCATED<\/p>\n
8.30PM: The state government reallocated $10.5m set aside for core domestic and family violence victim survivor support and counselling services to other areas.<\/p>\n
Labor\u2019s prevention of domestic violence spokeswoman Corrine McMillan questioned Director-General Belinda Drew about what the reallocated funds were initially budgeted for.<\/p>\n
Ms Drew said they were for general services including support for victim survivors, counselling services and the department\u2019s core programs.<\/p>\n
She said it had been reallocated into community services such as financial counselling and emergency relief.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat money in effect is a reinvestment in those important community services,\u201d Ms Drew said. <\/p>\n
\u201cMore broadly, the decrease in funding is related to time-limited funding that has ceased \u2026 so to have the pieces of project or program work.\u201d<\/p>\n
But counselling services, which cost $193 an hour but were funded at $167 an hour, were also short-changed in the 2026-27 budget.<\/p>\n
This is despite budget papers noting that providers were experiencing \u201chigher operational costs, including higher workforce expenses and more intensive crisis response services\u201d.<\/p>\n
Overall funding for domestic and family violence prevention will fall to $340.7m in 2026\u201327 \u2013 down $38.5m from last year\u2019s allocation and $15.8m below what was actually spent.<\/p>\n
Ms Camm has previously said this was due to the expiry of targeted spending, including a $22m saving due to the end of the Women\u2019s Safety and Justice Taskforce.<\/a><\/p>\n Ms Drew said the loss of 22 staff over two years was a \u201cnatural part\u201d of programs ceasing. <\/p>\n The department spent $1.2m on advertising last financial year. <\/p>\n Earlier, Ms Camm refused to table an update of the Women\u2019s Safety and Justice Taskforce recommendations, despite Premier David Crisafulli indicating one was coming. <\/p>\n Ms Camm, who has previously resisted providing public oversight of the implementation of the Women\u2019s Safety and Justice Taskforce recommendations, was asked by Shadow Treasurer Shannon Fentiman to \u201ctable that update now\u201d. <\/p>\n Ms Camm read selective updates from the report and said the single implementation supervisor had been replaced by a reform advisory panel.<\/p>\n She took 10 minutes of an hour-long session, but did not table any update. <\/p>\n \u201cThe Premier\u2019s comments were about an update,\u201d Ms Fentiman said. <\/p>\n \u201cHe said the minister would give an update tonight \u2026 if she\u2019s not able to I\u2019m happy to move on.\u201d <\/p>\n Ms Fentiman welcomed DV victim survivors to the parliament and, referencing Speaker Pat Weir\u2019s warning about a credible threat to disrupt parliament, said she trusted \u201cthey were not the threat you referenced earlier\u201d.<\/p>\n Ms Camm says victim survivors had told her they were frightened to seek support because the \u201ccurrent public narrative\u201d and media reporting meant they thought a service would not be there when they needed them.<\/p>\n She said the government had improved services, established new services and ended some pilot programs. <\/p>\n DV VICTIMS MISS OUT ON FUNDING<\/p>\n 8.05PM: Amanda Camm has sensationally revealed that funding for domestic and family violence was redirected to other parts of her portfolio, with her Director-General further confirming that not all money went to victims.<\/p>\n \u201cIf there was an underspending a certain part of the portfolio, where we can redirect that funding to another part of the portfolio, it is right to do so, and that is under the delegation of the Director-General,\u201d Ms Camm said.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd I certainly have given that direction to the Director-General that we need to ensure unashamedly that we will fund frontline services, and across my portfolio, majority of those services are outsourced services.\u201d<\/p>\n But Director-General Belinda Drew said she could not guarantee that \u201cevery cent\u201d of redirected funding went to DFV victims.<\/p>\n \u201cAs the minister has outlined, our close working relationships with neighbourhood centres across the state, where this money is deployed, indicate to us a high level of demand across those services for victim survivors,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n \u201cSo I can\u2019t guarantee that every single cent of that money will go to a victim survivor.<\/p>\n \u201cHowever, we have provided that funding on the basis that we know that need and demand is there.\u201d<\/p>\n NO DEAL FOR THRIVING KIDS<\/p>\n 8PM: Queensland is the only state in Australia that has not signed up for the Thriving Kids program to support young children with autism.<\/p>\n The $2bn scheme would see Queensland children with autism and mild developmental conditions move off the NDIS and into a state-led program.<\/p>\n Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers in April wrote to Treasurer David Janetzki claiming Queensland could save $580m and urged him to sign off on the deal.<\/p>\n Mr Janetzki rejected the modelling.<\/p>\n \u201cOnce we get further down the path and the bilateral is signed, we\u2019ll be able to do further modelling from there,\u201d Director-General Belinda Drew said.<\/p>\n Labor Disability Services spokeswoman Leeanne Enoch thanked Ms Drew for her honesty<\/p>\n Ms Drew also confirmed the department had lost 32 full-time disability support workers.<\/p>\n \u201cThe reduction in FTE in that space relates to disability accommodation support services that the department continues to provide,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cThat drop in FTE relates to us undertaking a planned transition away from the delivery of respite services to people with disabilities in Queensland.\u201d<\/p>\n Ms Drew said there was a \u201cslow decline\u201d in disability support accommodation as people with disabilities increasingly chose to use other service providers.<\/p>\n \u201cAs that attrition has happened, FTE has naturally dropped,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n DISABILITY COUNCIL VACANT FOR A YEAR<\/p>\n 7.30PM: The state government\u2019s Queensland Disability Advisory Council has been vacant for a year.<\/p>\n Labor disability services spokeswoman Leeanne Enoch asked Director-General Belinda Drew when the Queensland Disability Advisory Council last met. <\/p>\n \u201cThe QDAC term expired in August 2025 and at this point we are in the process of appointment of new members which is imminent,\u201d Ms Drew said. <\/p>\n The QDAC was established to provide independent advice to the minister. <\/p>\n Ms Enoch noted the government\u2019s claim the \u201clived experience of people with disabilities are paramount\u201d and questioned how it squared with the vacant council.<\/p>\n \u201cQDAC is a really important mechanism for engagement with people with disabilities across Queensland but it is not the only mechanism,\u201d Ms Drew said. <\/p>\n \u201cQDAC will meet again in the very near future.\u201d<\/p>\n Ms Drew revealed the department had also reallocated a small amount of funding from domestic and family violence to other emergency relief measures in her portfolio.<\/p>\n \u201cThose services funded were not funded into the forward estimates,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Ms Camm was questioned about the $9.3m operational underspend and reduction by seven full-time staff at a time when more Queenslanders were relying on the support of community organisations like neighbourhood centres.<\/p>\n She said the staff had been reduced because the projects of short term community recovery staff had ended. <\/p>\n Ms Enoch asked Ms Camm to guarantee no child transitioning from the NDIS to state-delivered supports would be left behind. <\/p>\n \u201cThose questions are best directed to the federal Commonwealth disability minister,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n \u201cWe are standing up for those with a disability, we are standing up for the original intent of the Commonwealth responsibility in regards to the National Disability Insurance Scheme that was signed up in good faith by states and territories many many years ago,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n She said the engagement with the Commonwealth on the Thriving Kids program had been questionable. <\/p>\n 6400 CHILD SAFETY CASES NOT INVESTIGATED<\/p>\n 6.40PM: Ms Camm\u2019s department has failed to investigate more than 6400 child safety cases following the catastrophic Unify IT failure which compromised the data of 16,000 vulnerable children in state care.<\/p>\n The astounding revelation by Director-General Belinda Drew during estimates hearings on Thursday night confirmed Child Safety is facing an 8140 case backlog \u2013 78.8 per cent of which have not commenced.<\/p>\n When asked, Ms Drew initially did not know the Unify case backlog, but later confirmed that 6414 child safety cases remained untouched.<\/p>\n Ms Drew earlier revealed that 79 children aged under five remained in residential care homes despite Ms Camm\u2019s direction that they should not be there.<\/p>\n Of those children, five were in residential care because no family-based care option was available.<\/p>\n Another 52 have stayed in resicare to remain living with their siblings.<\/p>\n A total of 20 children were in residential care homes due to medical disability needs.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd two were living with young mothers and were in care arrangements together,\u201d Ms Drew said.<\/p>\n Shadow Treasurer Shannon Fentiman asked Ms Drew whether it would be difficult for the department to manage the growing number of children who require state care alongside the inquiry recommendations with a smaller budget than what was provided last year.<\/p>\n \u201cOne of the real opportunities to reduce cost in residential care, and particularly for highly complex kids, is through the delivery of the professional foster care pilot, and we\u2019ve already had some success in that space,\u201d Ms Drew said.<\/p>\n \u201c \u2026 as we go through the process of planning for implementation of the inquiry\u2019s recommendations, we will continue to provide advice to government about budget.\u201d<\/p>\n Ms Drew, returning to an earlier request about the number of children who have been harmed in care over the last 12 months, was unable to provide the data.<\/p>\n This is because the department is currently not compiling harm reports.<\/p>\n \u201cHowever, this has been prioritised as the next data set, and work is underway to finalise that,\u201d Ms Drew said.<\/p>\n She said harm data was collected at the \u201clocal level,\u201d so she was unable to provide the information.<\/p>\n MINISTER SILENT ON KIDS HARMED IN CARE<\/p>\n 6.10PM: Amanda Camm has declined to say how many children in care have been harmed and whether she withheld critical child safety data for several months.<\/p>\n The evening Estimates session with Child Safety Minister Ms Camm opened with her Labor opponent Corrine McMillan noting there were more children in care, more children in protection, and assessment response times had declined.<\/p>\n \u201cThis morning you said work starts today,\u201d Ms McMillan said. <\/p>\n \u201cMinister, if work starts today, what have you been doing for the past 636 days?\u201d<\/p>\n