and the Prevention of Domestic and Family Violence

Ms McMILLAN(Mansfield—ALP) (5.30 pm): I move— That this House condemns the member for Whitsunday for their failures in their ministerial duties to protect vulnerable Queensland children, victims of domestic and family violence and Queenslanders recovering from natural disasters.

Children of the child safety system, those experiencing domestic and family violence and communities subject to cyclonic weather are victims of circumstance through no fault of their own. It is the responsibility of any and every government to protect them, especially our most vulnerable, our children. The situation that has been unfolding for the past 14 months demonstrates a series of ministerial leadership failures and maladministration. This failed ministerial leadership means the system is not safer, it is more fragile, it is opaque and more unstable than it was before.

The minister’s absence overseas on safari while the state was dealing with a cyclone and the child safety system was in turmoil sends a disturbing message about this LNP government’s priorities. Child safety is not a portfolio that pauses. Children do not get a holiday from abuse. It is clear that the department under this minister is in turmoil. Acting appointments and executive reshuffles are becoming the norm, undermining the stability needed to safeguard our most precious, our children.

Ministerial leadership failure is at the heart of the events unfolding. We have a department in crisis, yet the minister remains. Election commitments remain unmet: promised reductions in residential care, more child safety officers, a professional foster care model, proper monitoring of children. Without clear data there is no evidence of progress. Minister Camm turned on an IT system that an independent audit found was, ‘Unfinished, poorly tested, missing critical functions and rolled out despite frontline warnings.’

Mr Head interjected.

Mr SPEAKER: Member for Callide, you are not in your seat.

Ms McMILLAN: Intakes slowed, backlogs exploded, making response times unknowable. Nearly 40,000 children flagged as at risk were left in unsafe environments. The minister herself admitted that without a doubt there were children put at greater risk for a period. That admission alone should have triggered urgent transparency and accountability. Instead, Queenslanders got silence. When children are at risk, when a department is failing and falling apart at the seams, strong, decisive and deliberate leadership is needed. The minister must be present. The data blackout which has now lasted 11 months is one of the most concerning aspects—a data blackout that the minister knew would occur before the system went live.

Ms Pease interjected.

Mrs Frecklington interjected.

Mr SPEAKER: Order! Member for Lytton and member for Nanango, if I have to call either of you again you will be warned.

Ms McMILLAN: Even the Queensland Family and Child Commission has raised the alarm. Queenslanders are being asked to trust a system they are no longer allowed to see. Mr Allsop put it plainly: we should be in a better place but we are not. Without transparency the public experts and advocates cannot assess the state of child safety or hold this government accountable. The loss of key metrics such as harm, response times and safety outcomes just fuels mistrust. On the front line morale is at rock bottom. Workers facing immense stress with dangerous workloads are being silenced, fearing retribution if they speak out. Any confidence in this minister has been lost. A staff survey rated the system 1.79 out of 10. A child protection system that neglects its workers will inevitably fail the children it is meant to protect.

The systemic issues surrounding domestic and family violence, including the absence of prevention programs and the failure to report on recommendations from key inquiries, show a broader problem with this LNP government’s approach to safeguarding children exposed to violence. Further, it is clear that the minister did not advocate to prevent the de-establishment of a crucial domestic violence command in the QPS, which advocates have called out as a backward step. Exposure to domestic and family violence is one of the largest contributing factors to child maltreatment in Queensland, an issue this minister has failed to take seriously.

Further data released in May 2025 showed that more than 100 of 400 serious repeat offenders were living in state care. Additionally, more than 200 children in state care were under strict supervised youth justice orders. This is not acceptable. Silence is reprehensible, ignorance and disregard is immoral, obfuscation is intolerable and delay is dangerous, perhaps life threatening.

Leading child advocates are calling for the Premier to step in. Our children, our most vulnerable, deserve leadership that is stable, transparent and accountable. Queenslanders deserve a minister worthy of trust, a minister who will protect them.

Hon. RM BATES (Mudgeeraba—LNP) (Minister for Finance, Trade, Employment and Training) (5.36 pm): I move the following amendment— That all words after ‘That this House’ be omitted and the following paragraphs inserted: ‘1. condemns the members for Waterford, Bulimba, Jordan and Nudgee and the former member for Barron River for their

failures in their ministerial duties to protect vulnerable Queensland children; 2. notes the former government’s 10 years of failure in dealing with victims of domestic and family violence.’

It is truly astounding that those opposite would come into this place and play political games with the protection of vulnerable children. Have they no shame? Are they so quick to forget how the child safety system in Queensland reached crisis in the first place? I will give the member for Mansfield a clue: the answer lies with those on the benches around her.

Those opposite have the gall to come into this place and cast aspersions against the Minister for Families, Seniors and Disability Services and Minister for Child Safety and the Prevention of Domestic and Family Violence with their track record. How dare they! Queenslanders will not soon forget how those opposite treated the child safety portfolio when they were in government. Unfortunately for the Labor Party, cheap political stunts on the floor of parliament do not change the facts. It was under Labor that we saw a child safety minister who could not even be bothered to acknowledge the one-year anniversary of the death of Mason Jett Lee at their own press conference. It was under Labor that we saw a minister who was more interested in attending Splendour in the Grass—

Ms Fentiman interjected.

Mr SPEAKER: Order! You know what is coming, do you not, member for Waterford? You are warned.

Ms BATES: It was under Labor that we saw the minister attend Splendour in the Grass on the day the front page of the Courier-Mail revealed that the department and the minister knew about at least five children’s deaths under suspicious circumstances. It was under a Labor government that a minister admitted that her department washed data before releasing it to the public. It was a department rife with a culture of secrecy and cover-up to shield incompetent Labor ministers. These were shocking failures—system failures—that led to the deaths of children, including a baby at Yeppoon—

Ms Pease interjected.

Mr SPEAKER: Member for Lytton, you are now warned.

Ms BATES:—and Maddilyn-Rose Stokes, known to the Department of Child Safety. And do not ever forget Tiahleigh Palmer and Dexter Wilton, because I will not. It was a system that saw child safety officers burdened by unsustainable caseloads and high staff turnover, particularly in our regions, a system that—horrifically—saw the deaths of children, including Darcey and Chloe Conley, which could potentially have been prevented if child safety officers had the appropriate time and resources.

The member for Waterford’s time as child safety minister alone saw at least 12 children allegedly die in care under suspicious circumstances, children like Curtis Powell, Tiahleigh Palmer and Dexter Wilton. That is the legacy of those opposite. That is their track record: a system in crisis, lurching from one disaster to another while they left our most vulnerable at risk, not to mention the fact that those opposite cut funding for 91 existing frontline child safety staff in their 2024-25 budget.

It was the LNP that saved those jobs and we will continue to work to fix 10 years of failures in this space. Who can forget the way those opposite treated the portfolio of the prevention of domestic and family violence? Members in this House know full well that I am a survivor of domestic violence and it is a cause that I care deeply about. It was the Queensland Labor government that sat at the helm while a domestic violence crisis enveloped this state.

I will remind the House of a couple of names. Under the watch of those opposite, on the Gold Coast we saw the tragic death of Tara Brown, who was bludgeoned to death; in my own electorate Teresa Bradford was stabbed by her husband; Larissa Beilby was bashed to death; Shelsea Schilling was suffocated; Melinda Homer was murdered; Karina Lock was gunned down; Fabiana Palhares was bludgeoned to death; Kym Cobby was strangled to death; MaryBenedito was killed; and KellyWilkinson was burnt to death. That is their record and that is their legacy: systems in crisis and chaos and the most awful, vile incidents occurring under the watch of the Queensland Labor government.

Unlike those opposite, who bring this sort of unhelpful nonsense into this place, we spend our time trying to improve the child safety system. Who can forget the largest ever petition that came into this parliament for child safety? Thirty thousand Queenslanders called for policy change after the death of Mason Jett Lee. That was the sort of constructive activity that we did in opposition. Instead, they come into this House with their cheap stunts and their shameless grab for a news headline. Unlike those opposite, on this side of the House we are working tirelessly to fix this mess.

Hon. DK FRECKLINGTON (Nanango—LNP) (Attorney-General and Minister for Justice and Minister for Integrity) (5.46 pm): There is an example of why a failed minister is sitting on the opposition benches. The fact that that failed child safety minister could even make it to the shadow cabinet absolutely beggars belief. That failed child safety minister followed one of the worst child safety ministers that this state has ever seen—that is, the person sitting right beside her. That is actually saying something when we have the shadow treasurer, who was also a child safety minister, the member for Nudgee, who was also a child safety minister, and the former member for Barron River. That is not even worth talking about.

The Palaszczuk-Miles government—both of them—left the child safety system in utter disrepair. It was a disgrace. It was unfunded. They were going to sack 91 frontline workers in the child safety system. I know because my niece is one of them. You only have to go around the state and you—

Mr Dick interjected.

Mrs FRECKLINGTON: I beg your pardon? I am happy to take that interjection—whatever it was—from the former treasurer because he laughed. He was the one who signed off on sacking 91 frontline officers and he sits there and smiles and smirks and laughs because he has no clue what it is like to get outside of Brisbane.

Mr DICK: Mr Speaker, I rise to point of order. I do not like to do it but I take personal offence and I ask the Attorney to withdraw.

Mr SPEAKER: The member has taken personal offence. I ask you to withdraw.

Mrs FRECKLINGTON: I withdraw. I go back to the failed child safety minister I started with, the member for Jordan.

A government member: It is hard to tell which one.

Mrs FRECKLINGTON: It is a bit hard to tell, but let us look at that failed minister. Some 7.6 per cent of children involved in child safety were reported as absent or missing from care, placing them at even greater risk of sexual harm, exploitation, abuse, assault and rape.

Ms Pease interjected.

Mrs FRECKLINGTON: I am happy to take the interjection from the member for Lytton.

Mr SPEAKER: Member for Lytton, you were on a warning. You can leave the chamber for one hour.

Whereupon the honourable member for Lytton withdrew from the chamber at 5.49 pm.

Mrs FRECKLINGTON: I am still referring to the member for Jordan. What else happened? Response times to commence investigations increased through the roof, with it taking up to nine weeks for caseworkers to sight a child. That is the member for Jordan’s record. There was a rapidly growing number of child safety cases closing—what about this?—without full investigation. The member for Jordan sits there and dares to criticise the current minister. Do members know why she criticises the current minister? I will quote the member for Jordan. She said, ‘Because she is a mother.’ How dare she. Are you kidding me? I have heard some low things in this House, but is she seriously saying that because Minister Camm is a mother there is an issue? Get out of the gutter.

Worse than that—and I am still referring to the member for Jordan—infant mortality rates were significantly higher for Aboriginal and Torres Strait infants than for others. Expenditure on family services based on a per-child spend remained significantly lower—under that member and the other failed child safety ministers—than in other states like Victoria and New South Wales. It goes on and on.

They come in here and talk about holidays. I mention the member for Waterford when she was the child safety minister. I was trying to find the article. Was it when she was at Whistler or when she was skiing with Jackie Trad and a few other influential people that she forgot to put that on her register of interests. I note that because it was a free trip to Whistler. Then there was Splendour in the Grass. That was when there was a death of a child in the state. An article stated that child safety minister, Shannon Fentiman, was spending time at Splendour in the Grass. That was not the ski trip. The ski trip issue was because she failed to put it on her register of interests. The former Labor government only knew how to fail children in this state.

(Time expired)

Ms BOYD (Pine Rivers—ALP) (5.52 pm): Some 45 of the state’s 77 councils were disaster activated in the first month of this year, but they were not the only ones. The minister for community recovery and the Minister for Disaster Recovery were both activated too—the disaster dames. They may not hold a hose, but skipping out from natural disasters in peak season for a long break is their jam—one dame being brazen enough to jaunt across the globe to ‘bless the rains down in Africa’ instead of in Queensland.

‘Not only is it a bad look; it is utterly irresponsible’ was a quote from a Sunrise panel, as the abandonment was beamed into every lounge room in the nation. Commentators went on to call the member for Whitsunday’s actions incredibly deceptive. I reflect fondly on the days when the member for Whitsunday was the self-appointed community recovery minister—long before she was ever assigned the role. Back in those honeymoon days, one dame loved to overreach and the other underreach.

Eventually, we saw a reshuffle and the surrogate got her prize. In fact, we sat through an entire sitting week with the demoted member for Warrego awkwardly muted. The gig was up when the House rose and the Gazette landed. There was no updating of the House, just deception—a deception that comes all too often, all too naturally. We are left to ponder what went so wrong—not with the member for Warrego as that is obvious. How did the member for Whitsunday go from a minister who could not stay in her own lane to a minister who could not stay on the same continent? She wanted it so badly and discarded it almost instantly.

The LNP crows that there is no daylight between response and recovery. There is an international dateline. Approved by the Premier was the annual leave for the Minister for Disaster Recovery for the second year in a row in the thick of disaster season—one of the longest ministerial leave periods gazetted. When natural disaster struck again, the minister was working from her office in Warrego. So remote was she that a spokesperson needed to provide media comment rather than the minister herself. The missing minister finally made an, albeit brief, lacklustre appearance. It beggars belief that, within the course of a week of this public outcry and embarrassment, the member for Whitsunday thought it was fine and dandy to pack up her gear and forge ahead with her three weeks annual leave on an African safari—‘hakuna matata’.

An already natural disaster impacted state saw Tropical Cyclone Koji bear down in, amongst other locations, the electorate of Whitsunday. Yesterday, the devastation of that event was addressed by the members for Traeger, Rockhampton and Keppel. Why has the member for Whitsunday not updated the House? What is the extent to which Queenslanders have been impacted? What supports are available for them and their families? There is an African saying ‘well done is better than well said’. This is a minister who proves day to day that she cannot manage the well done. Deflection, deception and denial is the member for Whitsunday’s version of well said.

The ‘incredibly deceptive’ assessment of Sunrise is spot on. There is real anger around that and it relates to the guise of support that the member for Whitsunday laid on thick—misleading of her presence. It is deception that is insulting, most of all to our first responders—those who put themselves in harm’s way to protect us, to serve us, to save us. The member for Whitsunday was so comfortable on safari, hanging out in the hide, that even upon her return the media could not find her. It took more than a month from the start of her leave for her to front up to the media. When she finally put down the ranger’s coffee, ticked off the big five, the little five and the ugly five and the sundowners were a distant memory, what did she have to say?

Mrs Frecklington interjected.

Ms BOYD: I take the interjection from the member for Nanango.

Mr SPEAKER: Member for Nanango, you were on a warning. You can leave the chamber for a period of one hour.

Whereupon the honourable member for Nanango withdrew from the chamber at 5.56 pm.

Ms BOYD: ‘I take my job and role very seriously,’ she said. ‘I want to be fit, healthy and alert to be able to give it my all.’ ‘Part of that was being able to take a break,’ she said. The minister’s privilege and entitlement oozes from her words.

Queenslanders with flooded homes are not given a break. Farmers who have lost their livelihoods are not given a break. Abandoned and abused children are not given a break. Our SES volunteers, who are not paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to show up, still showed up in this time of crisis. This is how they spend their holidays—serving the community for free. We all deserve a better standard than what the member for Whitsunday is offering. People experiencing the worst days of their lives do not want someone who is pretending to be here. They need someone who is actually here.

Hon. AJ STOKER (Oodgeroo—LNP) (5.57 pm): The member for Pine Rivers wants to talk about things being well done. After that contribution, I am bound to say that things over there are thoroughly cooked. I rise to speak on this motion a little shocked because it is either delusion or maybe they are losing touch with reality when those opposite start throwing stones on the issue of child safety. I guess there is another option. Maybe a bit like Dory in Finding Nemo, they have been plagued by amnesia. I want to give a charitable potential interpretation. If they are struggling to remember, let me help.

Their record is not good. Perhaps that is why the last Labor government went through five child safety ministers. While this government deals with the youth crime revolving door that Labor left behind, perhaps we should grant them just a little bit of grace. After all, they were busy swirling around in their own revolving door of child safety ministers.

Let us give that record a bit of a look. Let us look at the investigation timelines for child safety during the period of the last government. A census in 2024 revealed there were critical delays during their period in government. Only 19 per cent of five-day and 18.6 per cent of 10-day investigations were even being commenced within the required timeframes. There was a surge in the number of children in residential care during that decade of decline. They turned it into a quite repugnant multibillion dollar industry.

Sadly, it became what the Queensland Child and Family Commission called ‘a pipeline to youth crime’. Instead of having 650 people in it, as it did in 2015, by late 2024 there were 2,212 children in residential care—an explosion. Some 683 of those children were under 12, representing a 381 per cent increase since 2015. There is no way to spin, slice or dice this that is not an absolutely abhorrent outcome for the most vulnerable kids in this state.

Missing children is a big part of their record, too. An audit that was arranged after Labor left office found that over 770 children were what they call self-placing, meaning they were missing or absent from their assigned care, with some found to be homeless or having been brought in to criminal networks. It is a really sad indictment on what was left behind. Adoption rates plummeted—down 80 per cent on the levels in place in the nineties, denying children stable, loving and permanent homes. Budget black holes were left behind. There was a $500 million shortfall in residential care funding and the failure to fund 91 frontline positions past Christmas 2024. What was the grand plan here? Was it just, ‘Oh, we will deal with that sometime in the future. Let’s get through the election and deal with it on the other side’? They literally had no plan for the ongoing paying of the pay cheques of the hardworking staff in Child Safety who do such difficult work. It is an extraordinary thing!

The IT failures over which theypresided should not be forgotten. The $183 million UnifyIT system was commissioned under Labor then descoped under Labor, with its functionality gutted in 2023 and early 2024. They are trying to blame this government for the messes made by that descoping, yet everybody knows that Labor are so unreliable when it comes to IT. I remind those listening about the Queensland Health payroll scandal—a $6 million budget that went to $1.25 billion, with 78,000 health workers not paid. What about Smart Ticketing as an IT project? It was almost a decade late, with a $60 million blowout. An IT fail for SPER—

Mr de BRENNI: Mr Speaker, I rise to a point of order. I draw your attention to relevance. The member’s contribution is well outside the scope of the original motion or the amendment, and I would ask you to remind her of her obligations.

Mr SPEAKER: The point of order is on relevance. I was a little distracted. Member for Oodgeroo, you know what the motion is about. It is in front of you.

Mrs STOKER: Thank you, Speaker. The good news is that I have plenty more to share in my limited time. The In plain sight report showed that the failure of Labor to implement the Reportable Conduct Scheme left children unprotected for nearly a decade—real harm done to children as this former Labor government lags at the bottom of the class, failing to implement. This is not funny. At last we have a child safety minister who is prepared to do the hard work to keep kids safe.

(Time expired)

Ms ASIF (Sandgate—ALP) (6.03 pm): I rise to support the motion moved by the member for Mansfield. The Minister for Child Safety and the Prevention of Domestic and Family Violence has cheated the people of Queensland. The minister has cheated and failed in her responsibility to support Queenslanders facing natural disasters, to support women, men, children and families experiencing family and domestic violence, and to protect the most vulnerable children in our state. The minister has failed in all three. There is a pattern of deflection and abandoning those who need the minister most— abandoning vulnerable children and people who are being faced with family and domestic violence. What a shame!

The minister accepted this critical responsibility and she made a commitment to protect these people. Then, at a time when Queenslanders desperately need more services and support, she was nowhere to be found. We need more specialist resources to combat the epidemic we have in family and domestic violence, and we are presented with cuts.

While women impacted by family and domestic violence have been turned away and told to wait up to 20 days for help, the LNP minister has made the unconscionable decision to disband a specialist unit providing statewide support to women, men and children facing family and domestic violence. This is a catastrophic failure in her duty as minister. While domestic and family violence rates explode through our state, the decision is indefensible. Last week, the minister came out and said there was ‘nothing to see here’. There were no words of support for the frontline workers who are doing the most when it comes to this epidemic. They were told to just ignore the fact that this unit had been disbanded and there were no other resources going to be provided for this. I cannot fathom how the minister can get away with this failure.

I know there are many knives being sharpened on the other side because I think they all see that there are failures on the minister’s part. I can think of a few—potentially the highly reported ‘rising star’ the member for Gregory, or maybe it is the member for Oodgeroo. Maybe the Premier is already considering who he might be replacing the minister with. We will know more in the days to come.

The unit which was disbanded by the minister is a specialist unit to provide support and drive the QPS’s capabilities to prevent, disrupt, investigate and respond to incidents involving family and domestic violence and harm to vulnerable persons. The definition of the unit on the QPS’s website says— ... advocates and supports delivery of holistic, victim-centric, and trauma-informed responses to address the needs of individuals, reduce harm and make Queensland the safest state.

Where are these people supposed to go now when they are faced with this harm? What is happening? Where are people going to go? I simply do not understand. Why has the minister sat silent, doing absolutely nothing, while the sector calls out for help?

Frontline workers have come out and said that this is going to be a catastrophic failure. Frontline DV workers, the people who witness the crisis daily, have sounded the alarm about the devastating impact this reckless decision will have on victims. Their expertise and warnings have been completely ignored. It is astounding! Not only the victims but also the people who are out there trying to protect them have said that this cannot happen, and the minister has nothing to sayto them. Protecting women, children, men and families fleeing domestic violence is not optional. Their protection is on the shoulders of the government and they must continue to do that. It is an absolute disgrace that the LNP minister and the government, whose job it is to protect those very people, have slashed the resources and now stand in between them getting support.

Everyone deserves a break from work, but unfortunately those people who are on the front lines did not get a break. They did not get a break when there was a cyclone over the summer break. Just to let the minister know, the Queensland government website very clearly indicates that during summer months Queensland is prone to disasters. This should not be a surprise to anyone at all. Maybe that could be included on the Queensland parliamentary calendar—I do not know—but the minister could perhaps potentially plan her leave around the disaster season, when the responsibility falls on the minister’s shoulders to be there on the ground and to be with the people who need her most. That is what Queenslanders expect from their governments.

It is clear that the minister is simply not up to the job. When the DV unit was disbanded it was called ‘realignment’. I say it is another word for ‘cut’. When the IT system she turned on failed, she blamed anyone and everyone except for herself as minister. She should take some accountability and responsibility for her actions. It is time for her to show up and do her job. The people of Queensland have elected her to do a particular thing, which is to look out for them and govern the state and do that in her role. The Premier said before the election that that is what he expects from his ministers. It is time to show some action.

(Time expired)

Ms JAMES (Barron River—LNP) (6.08 pm): I rise today in support of our amendment. I recall the worst flood to hit our region, the Cyclone Jasper floods in Far North Queensland. The former member for Barron River, who was also the former child safety minister, was nowhere to be seen in Barron River for at least two weeks during that disaster. He was at the tennis! In Far North Queensland we do not experience policy; we experience—

Opposition members interjected.

Mr SPEAKER: Order! The member for Barron River has the call.

Ms JAMES: I will take the interjection from the member for Mansfield, who I think is on a warning.

Mr SPEAKER: Member for Barron River, you have the call.

Ms JAMES: In Far North Queensland we do not experience policy; we experience consequences of poor policy. We see the flashing lights on the Captain Cook Highway—

Mr Smith interjected.

Mr SPEAKER: Member for Bundaberg, you are now on a warning.

Ms JAMES: We see the exhausted teachers supporting children who are carrying adult sized trauma, empty bellies and scars we cannot see but we can feel; we can see the grandparents stepping in to raise kids because someone else could not keep them safe; and we have one of the highest rates of domestic violence and strangulation in the state. It is heartbreaking.

Behind every statistic is an adult or a child who is just trying to make tomorrow better than yesterday. For too long the response was reactive—record the incident, process the paperwork and move to the next crisis—but this government is doing something different. We are redesigning the system so that harm is prevented, not just documented—

Ms Asif interjected.

Mr SPEAKER: Member for Sandgate, you have had your go.

Ms Boyd interjected.

Ms JAMES: I take the interjection from the member for Pine Rivers. We say ‘hakuna matata’, as you said, but it does mean ‘no worries’. There are plenty of people worrying in Cairns, I can assure you.

We have strengthened domestic and family violence laws so police can act immediately, not just after escalation. High-risk offenders can now be GPS monitored. Tracking perpetrators means victims do not have to live in fear. This is an option now for the police. We changed these laws last year to protect more women from high-risk domestic and family violence offenders.

Having videorecorded evidence means survivors tell their story once and do not have to relive the trauma over and over in the courtroom. In North Queensland we are delivering a 24/7 crisis line because violence does not wait for business hours and neither should help. We recently announced $19.3 million in funding to boost the Cairns courthouse DFV project, which includes construction of a brand new courtroom dedicated to DFV matters, a new secure DFV safe room and refurbishment of two existing courtrooms, ensuring victim-survivors can have their matters heard sooner and because everyone deserves to feel safe when seeking justice.

Far North Queensland was also the first place for a man to be charged with the new coercive control laws our government introduced last year. Reform is not just about laws; it is about changing behaviour, and we are investing in prevention and perpetrator intervention programs to stop violence before children grow up thinking that it is normal. The safest DFV response is the one that prevents the next victim.

No child chooses the home they grow up in and, sadly, many children live in terrible conditions that you would not leave an animal in. We are rebuilding the system around stability. We are boosting support payments to carers so more families can step forward. We are piloting professional foster care to provide consistent, skilled support for complex children. We are introducing dual-carer residential models so children have relationships, not rosters. We are planning secure care facilities for the highest risk cases so children and carers remain safe. For the first time, we actually went looking for children in care who are missing, not waiting for paperwork to catch up with reality.

This is what change looks like: no announcements, just action. We have also established a commission of inquiry because systems only improve when governments are honest about failure. We will not hide the problems behind reports. We will confront them and we will fix them because children in Far North Queensland deserve the same protection as children anywhere in Queensland. We are already seeing early results, fewer victims and more offenders held accountable.

Queenslanders watched a revolving door of ministers under the former Labor government, with announcements, reviews and road maps that led nowhere. The difference today is leadership. Instead of press conferences followed by silence, we have a smart, dedicated and passionate minister methodically implementing reform step by step, rebuilding a system that has been allowed to drift for far too long. Protecting children is not solved by one speech.

(Time expired)