SA Public Sector Employment Commissioner Erma Ranieri to step in as acting child safety boss
She may only be in the job for a matter of weeks but the interim head of the state’s Child Protection Department has plans to get straight down to the coalface.
SA News
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The woman charged with keeping the state’s Department for Child Protection running until a new boss is found plans to head straight to the coalface.
Public Sector Employment Commissioner Erma Ranieri has been asked to step in as interim boss after outgoing DCP chief executive Cathy Taylor leaves her post at the end of Friday.
Announcing the temporary arrangement to staff on Friday morning, Ms Ranieri revealed that she wants to visit frontline offices and identify processes which could be improved quickly.
Ms Taylor delivered her resignation to Premier Peter Malinauskas in January, saying she would remain in the role until April 28 while a search for her replacement was conducted.
As Public Sector Employment Commissioner Ms Ranieri has been spearheading that search but has now been asked by Mr Malinauskas to step in as the interim leader.
Mr Malinauskas is expected to announce a permanent chief executive within a fortnight.
There had been speculation that DCP deputy chief executive Fiona Ward could be appointed acting chief executive until the new leader was in place.
The insertion of Ms Ranieri could be seen to send the message that fresh eyes are needed in a department which has long faced questions over its internal culture.
DCP has been the subject of at least three independent inquiries in the past year.
Speaking to The Advertiser on Friday, Ms Ranieri would not say how long her secondment would last but flagged that she wanted to use the time to discover where practical improvements could be made swiftly.
“Having read all the reports (about the child protection system) I think there’s a lot of process improvement that we could identify,” she said.
“I can do that fairly quickly.
“I’m not there permanently but how do I get people talking to me about what’s possible in that department to make it work even better?”
In an email to staff Ms Ranieri said she understood “change can be unsettling” and she would “strive to bring stability” until a permanent chief executive was in place.
“Child protection is one of the most essential services the public sector is responsible for delivering and I want you to know that the complexity you face every day does not go unnoticed,” she wrote.
Department of Premier and Cabinet chief executive Damien Walker will fill in as Public Sector Employment Commissioner while Ms Ranieri is on secondment.
Opposition child protection spokesman Josh Teague questioned “just what sort of difficulties have led to this most unusual step to be taken by government”?
“It is not Erma Ranieri’s job to go from overseeing the recruitment process of this important appointment ... to then step away from that recruitment role and take on the reigns herself,” Mr Teague said.
“We ought to know who’s going to be the leader permanently in the Department for Child Protection to steer a pathway out of crisis.
“We don’t have any clear sign as to where the Department for Child Protection is heading.”
Ms Taylor has overseen the state’s under-pressure child protection system since she was appointed by the previous Labor government in October 2016.
During her term she has faced increasing scrutiny over high-profile cases including teen girls falling pregnant while in state care and the deaths of children known to the department.
In a statement released when she delivered her resignation, Ms Taylor – who was paid about $383,000 a year – said her time in the role “has been one of the most rewarding periods of my career”.
“The work we do requires significant expertise and commitment. It’s a job that our staff do day in, day out, driven by the desire to help those children and young people who are most vulnerable in our community,” she said.
“There needs to be a balance in celebrating the good work done by child protection staff as it can be incredibly difficult work.”
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