Wednesday 31 July 2024
Community and Public Sector Union/Civil Service Association (CPSU/CSA) members in the Armadale and Albany Child Protection and Family Support (CPFS) offices will today engage in a morning stop-work action, locking their doors and calling on the Cook Government to urgently address the crisis in the system.
Emergency protocols are in place at locked offices to ensure access can be provided in emergency situations.
In April, after years of discussions with decision-makers, Child Protection union delegates put the Minister for Child Protection and Family Support on notice to take immediate action on dangerous workloads and under-staffing or face the prospect of member action. In late June, Delegates participated in a half-day workshop with senior representatives of the Department of Communities, including Director General Mike Rowe, in an attempt to secure urgent action to address their concerns, but were disappointed in the outcome.
Delegates have assessed the response from the Government and Department as woefully inadequate and resolved to proceed with a campaign of member action to secure change. They now seek urgent action from Premier Roger Cook.
One Delegate, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said of the inadequate response to the situation, “The building is burning down, and the Department wants to consult on a fire safety plan.”
CPSU/CSA Branch Secretary, Rikki Hendon, says action like this could continue until Premier Cook commits to safe workloads, urgently phasing out the unallocated cases list, increasing allocated staffing and addressing the dire attraction and retention crisis within Child Protection and Family Support Districts.
“The passionate and dedicated CPSU/CSA members in Child Protection have done everything in their power to avoid today's action. They've spent years holding detailed discussions with decision-makers, advocating for the resources and reforms needed to get the system back on track, but successive Ministers and Governments have failed to act on their concerns.
“The Government has a duty to do what’s right for Western Australia’s most vulnerable children and families. Every child deserves to be safe, secure and loved. Every child deserves the best care, but right now this is not being provided to our most at-risk children because there are simply not enough staff in our Child Protection system to support them.
“Child Protection in WA now has record open child protection cases without allocated caseworkers, 1189 as of June 2024, with nearly 500 of those with open initial Child Safety Investigations.
“This system is bracing for total collapse. Our Child Protection members are taking this serious action today because they care too much to let that happen.
“Our members are no longer mincing words, enough is enough. Premier Cook must use some of his seventh successive surplus to urgently phase out the use of the unallocated cases list, resource the safe allocation of all child protection cases, and implement lasting measures to address the attraction and retention crisis across all roles in Child Protection District Offices.”
ENDS
Notes
- Members will walk out of their offices at 9am, followed by a short rally.
- CPSU/CSA Branch Secretary, Rikki Hendon will be available for comment at 9:30am at the Armdale CPFS office.
- Members will then enter their offices at 9:45am, where they will be unavailable until after lunch.
- A further Press Conference will be held at 2:00pm on Zoom for those in regional locations who wish to seek comment from CPSU/CSA Branch Secretary, Rikki Hendon. Details have been provided by email.
- The CPSU/CSA covers 44,000 general public sector workers, one-quarter of the WA public sector, including child protection officers, youth custodial officers, park rangers, veterinary scientists and dental technicians.
- Note to Journalists: Please ensure the full acronym, “CPSU/CSA” when mentioning us. “CPSU” is typically used to refer to the Union that covers Commonwealth, ACT and NT public sector workers. We are related but separate organisations.
For more information or to arrange further comment from Branch Secretary Rikki Hendon, please contact CPSU/CSA Reception on 08 9323 3800 and ask for the Media and Stakeholder Engagement Officer.
