North Queensland residential care: LNP claims program a budget blowout

The Crisafulli Government says the number of children in residential care in North Queensland has increased more than 300 per cent in nine years.

Child Safety Minister Amanda Camm says the Crisafulli Government has discovered a predicted half-a-billion-dollar 2024-25 budget blowout in the residential-care sector that the former Labor government knew about and did nothing to stop. Picture: Matthew Poon

The Crisafulli Government says shock new figures reveal the total number of children in residential care in North Queensland has increased more than 300 per cent in less than decade.

Figures supplied Child Safety Minister Amanda Camm show that in the financial year ending June 30, 2024, there were 288 kids in resi care in North Queensland, a more than 150 per cent increase since 2019, and a more than a 300 per cent rise since 2015.

Ms Camm said that as of September 30, there were 2093 children in a residential-care home across Queensland, with the cost to the state at $1360 per child, per night.

In North Queensland, that currently equates to a total of just under $400,000 every day or $146 million in the last financial year alone.

Ms Camm, whose expansive portfolio also includes the prevention of domestic and family violence, said the previous Labor government had budgeted just $658 million for the state’s most vulnerable children, a figure that was expected to reach $1.1 billion by the end of the financial year.

“Labor have been caught lying to Queenslanders to the tune of a half-a-billion dollars and their shameful lies mean we have inherited a broken system, a system that was without a plan to protect children and our communities.”

Ms Camm, whose expansive portfolio also includes the prevention of domestic and family violence, said it would reform the sector under the Safer Children, Safer Communities plan and would respect Queenslanders’ cash. Picture: Matthew Poon

“The Crisafulli Government is not daunted by the task ahead; we are committed to restoring and significantly strengthening support and parental care in this state,” she said.

“We are moving towards a 24-hour, dual-carer model for our residential care facilities and we will deliver Queensland’s first SecureCare facility to provide safe care to children who are a danger to themselves and others.”

The LNP have previous stated that the new facility will be delivered by 2028 for children whose needs can’t be met in resi care.

“The Crisafulli Government also plan to pilot a new professional foster-care program for children with disability and complex needs currently in residential care,” Ms Camm said.

“We will also increase the allowance for extracurricular activities and education support for children in out-of-home care.”

Shadow Child Safety Minister Corrine McMillan.

Shadow Child Safety Minister Corrine McMillan said it was “disappointing to see the LNP use children in the residential care system for political point scoring instead of just funding it”.

“Labor always provided the system with the funding it needs and David Crisafulli and Amanda Camm must do the same.”

Ms McMillan said the it was new department analysis that showed the system needed $500 million in additional funding, saying “the LNP chose to complain about it instead of investing in the system”.

“The people who work in the residential care system and the children who rely on it deserve to be treated with more respect than that.”

Originally published as North Queensland residential care: LNP claims program a budget blowout