Explosive report into Mason Lee’s death finds gross negligence in Department of Child Safety

THREE staff in the Department of Child Safety have been stood down immediately and a further nine face disciplinary action over the tragic death of Caboolture toddler Mason Jett Lee.

• Injuries ‘would’ve been obvious’, court told

THREE staff in the Department of Child Safety have been stood down immediately and a further nine face disciplinary action over the tragic death of Caboolture toddler Mason Jett Lee.

Child Safety Minister Shannon Fentiman revealed this morning that the extraordinary action against the large number of staff had been taken following a damning review.

“It found staff may have breached legislation, standards, codes and procedures in this and consequently 12 child safety workers have been referred to the Department’s ethical standards branch,” she said.

“Three of those staff members were stood down by the Director General with pay late yesterday and will not return to work pending the outcome of that investigation.”

The three stood down staff are a child safety officer, a team leader and the manager of the child safety service centre.

Ms Fentiman said the report also highlighted that the Caboolture region was experiencing increasing pressure and complexity of cases.

She announced plans to split the child safety region in two and to backfill the positions of the stood down staff.

“But it does come back to the invidious actions of staff and that is why we have acted today,” Ms Fentiman said.

Family and Child Commissioner Cheryl Vardon, a veteran of the sector, said she had been shocked reading the review.

“I was appalled and shocked and distressed,” she said.

“And I have been close to child safety for many years and my first reaction was how could this have happened?

“I have certainly read various reports coming out of the circumstances of Mason Jett Lee’s death.

“It cannot happen again. It is unacceptable if we find that there’s been a complete break down in systems and information sharing.”

However, Ms Vardon said it would be a “big leap” to say the toddler would not have died had the staff acted differently.

Together Union secretary Alex Scott said he feared child safety officers could be used as scapegoats for the Department’s under-resourcing.

Mason Lee.

Mr Scott demanded the Government strip the Department of Child Safety of responsibility to investigate and discipline its staff, saying another ethical standards unit should take over.

“While we will do everything we can to make sure children are the priority in the system, we will not allow our members to become the scapegoats for a failing system,” he said.

“While we will continue to ensure that we will work productively with the minister and with the department to try and improve the system and improve the protection for children, we will be calling on the minister to ensure that the current investigation and disciplinary process against staff is not conducted by the department.

“We don’t believe that the current agency should be the decision makers for the investigation or any subsequent disciplinary action.”

Earlier, an explosive report into the death of Mason Lee has found gross negligence on behalf of the Department of Child Safety and its staff in their failed protection of the toddler.

The Courier-Mail can reveal the secret internal report — seen by just a handful of people — found gross malpractice at Caboolture’s Child Safety Office and systemic issues within the department itself.

Child Safety workers who failed Mason may be sacked as ethical standards investigations are launched into their allegedly flawed actions.

Minister for Child Safety Shannon Fentiman has been briefed on the report. PIC: Adam Armstrong.

The damning details will place added pressure on Child Safety Minister Shannon Fentiman, who will face loud calls from the Opposition to release the report in its entirety.

Mason Lee was found dead at a Caboolture home on June 11, with an autopsy revealing a litany of injuries going back months, some of which the 21-month-old had been hospitalised for.

Ms Fentiman, the Child Commissioner and Mason’s family were yesterday briefed on the Systems and Practice Review as one of the men charged with manslaughter over his death faced court.

The angry Minister will today announce “immediate action” against staff, including disciplinary action that will see at least two staff answer to internal investigators on whether they should keep their jobs.

The report — which sets out the department’s interactions with the family and who was involved in the failed protection of Mason — will also prompt ­internal changes to the department, to be outlined today.

Mason Lee.

The Minister has stated publicly that she won’t wait for reviews to be finalised before taking action if needed,” her spokeswoman said last night.

“The Minister will make an announcement (today) to outline what immediate action is being taken, including disciplinary action against relevant staff.”

The spokeswoman said the report was just the first stage of a detailed review process and could not be released under child safety laws.

Instead, it has been passed to the independent Child Death Case Review Panel, the police and the Office of the State Coroner.

But Opposition Child Safety spokeswoman Ros Bates accused Ms Fentiman of keeping the report secret because the findings were so “politically explosive”.

She said the contents would “shock Queenslanders to the core” as the LNP made a bid to have the document ­released under Right to ­Information laws.

“Clearly the report is so damning and explosive the Palaszczuk Government is going to extreme lengths to keep it secret,” Ms Bates said.

She said Queenslanders had lost confidence in the state’s child-protection system.