Today, frontline child safety workers and youth workers across Tasmania will launch statewide industrial action with a one-hour stop work in the south, condemning the government for their “plugging the hole” approach that has failed to fix the staffing crisis in any meaningful way.
After the recent tragic death of a child in the north west, which was believed to be an unactioned case due to staffing shortages, Children and Youth Minister Roger Jaensch introduced a deeply flawed emergency workforce plan. This plan includes two $5,000 payments for Child Safety Officers, Allied Health Professionals in Advice and Referral Line and Youth Justice only, and a 15% market allowance on top for the same roles in the north west.
Child safety support workers, youth workers, youth justice workers, unit coordinators, and other essential frontline workers are excluded from this plan, despite their vital roles in supporting at-risk children and families every day.
Workers warn the government’s piecemeal approach and failure to implement a comprehensive market allowance for all frontline child safety workers falls well short of what is required to ensure services can operate efficiently and ignores the critical recruitment and retention issues across the state.
HACSU State Secretary Robbie Moore says, “The government is irresponsibly plugging holes and throwing money at the problem to mitigate political fallout from a child's death. But this bandaid solution won’t fix the dire staffing crises in the long term. More tragedies are likely to happen because we don’t have enough workers to support at-risk Tasmanian children and young people.”
The government’s emergency workforce plan is not only inadequate but also endangering the very lives they claim to protect.
Workers at Child Safety Services and Youth Justice across the state demand immediate, comprehensive and meaningful solutions to address the staffing crisis. We will be campaigning to make sure that their voices are heard, click here to read more.