ESTIMATES COMMITTEE PROCEEDINGS – 17 JUNE 2010
Ms ANDERSON: I will take it in 1.5, Clare, thank you.
Mr VATSKALIS: Okay.
Ms ANDERSON: The next question, minister, is – and if you do not have the statistics on this,
because this is a real serious question, because we simply remove children to protect children from
an unsafe environment, and the reason why I am asking you this question is because I want to know,
from the time you remove a child, how many placements that child has, from zero to five, and I will
read you the question just in case you need to take it on notice.
Of all the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children aged zero to six in care of the CEO of the
Northern Territory Families and Children, how many of these children have multiple placements,
including respite placements, since they entered the care of the CEO, and what is the average
number of placements per child?
Ms GARDINER-BARNES: The measure in relation to child placements is actually dealt with in the
output relating to Out of Home Care, 1.3, but specifically in relation to that question, we cannot
actually do a breakdown on age. We are happy to take the question on notice and answer it as best
we can within the parameters of our information system.
Ms ANDERSON: And that would have to include the respite care as well that that child has, not just
the fact that it moved from three different people in its entire life, but the respite that it had for the
weekend, and then someone might take it on because you are short of carers for two months, and
then it moves on to someone else that might have it for six months, so that would include all that data
as well, Clare?
Ms GARDINER-BARNES: Yes, we will try and track the whole story for you.
__________________________
Question on Notice No 7.4
Mr CHAIRMAN: Do you mind, member for Macdonnell, then putting that as a question now that you
have sorted those differences out?
Ms ANDERSON: Of all the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children aged zero to six in care of
the CEO of the Northern Territory Families and Children, how many of these children have had
multiple placements, including respite placements, since they entered the care of the CEO, and what
is the average number of placements per child?
Mr CHAIRMAN: For the purposes of Hansard, I allocate that question No 7.4.
__________________________
Ms ANDERSON: So, minister, just at the introduction of your introducing yourself to Estimates, I
asked whether I could ask a question of the task force, and the very reason why I want to ask this
question, this is a really serious question, how does the task force determine, when a child is being
interviewed, the interpreter? For example, a Lhere Artepe child, how do you determine, or the task
force determine the interpreter?
Ms GARDINER-BARNES: The Child Abuse Task Force, when they visit remote communities, has a
very difficult situation to deal with when those young children and their carers do not have English as
their first language. Often they will access the support provided in the health clinic by the health clinic
staff to act as interpreters for the purposes of undertaking an interview as part of the investigation
process.
Ms ANDERSON: So, non-Indigenous speaking health staff or Aboriginal Health Workers?
ESTIMATES COMMITTEE PROCEEDINGS – 17 JUNE 2010
Ms GARDINER-BARNES: Indigenous health workers, and so, in those communities, those workers
will try and find an appropriately qualified person who is local in the community who can act as an
interpreter, but also understand the ethical issues that they are dealing with if they are part of that
interview process, and so, when they visit those communities, they will do their best to try and ensure
that the interpreter services can be provided for that child in a respectful way.
Ms ANDERSON: Is that written somewhere so that it is adhered to by the task force so that they do
not make mistakes?
Ms GARDINER-BARNES: I am not sure if it is part of the exact procedural manual, but I can check
that and get back to you.
Mr CHAIRMAN: Do you want that on notice?
Ms ANDERSON: Yes, we will take that on notice.
_______________________________
Question on Notice No 7.5
Mr CHAIRMAN: Can you just summarize the question for the purposes of Hansard.
Ms ANDERSON: I am just asking off the cuff. So the question would be: is there anything written for
the task force to adhere to, rules and regulations and views of an interpreter?
Mr CHAIRMAN: So it is No 7.5.
_______________________________
Ms ANDERSON: And this is, Clare, where I want to go into a specific case. You had a child disclose
abuse. It was reported - it makes me upset because it is close to me - and an interview took place.
The child is a nine year-old girl who speaks Luritja-Pintubi, but the interpreter you got was
Pitjantjatjara. Now, that is like Spanish and Portuguese, two different dialects. And I will just use a
couple of words in my language, which is the little girl’s language: if someone was saying: ‘Are you
telling the truth?’ in my language, Luritja-Pintubi, you would just say: (in language). So that you can
see the difference, in Pitjantjatjara: (in language)
I believe, because I spoke to the mother last week in between sittings, the child did not engage or
respond in that interview. Now, that has to be a major concern, minister, for you and to all of us as
members, as politicians, representing these children.
Mr VATSKALIS: I agree with you, member for Macdonnell. We live in a multicultural society and we
have a variety of languages not only within the Aboriginal population but we have various languages
and expressions with people from a non-English speaking background; and I will encourage you to
provide this information to me personally, if you wish to, and I will personally make sure it will be
followed up.
Ms ANDERSON: And the other thing is, the perpetrator is still on the community. The child is still in
the community. As of last week, this last weekend, that is specifically why I went home to check to
see if that child was in the community. That shows me that we do not have the best interests of the
child if we put that child back into the same community waiting for an investigation to happen - we
place the child back into the same community with the same perpetrator.
There was another little girl involved in this same case. I happened to be in the community on that day
for a totally different reason when the task force come in. When the child was interviewed, like you
said minister, at the clinic, there was no Indigenous Health Workers, there was not one Indigenous
person in that interview.
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