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ABC News
ABC News
National
By Avani Dias

NSW commits to less than half of child protection recommendations

The report was critical of the NSW Government's handling of child protection.

The New South Wales Government will adopt less than half of the recommendations by a parliamentary inquiry into the state's child protection system, which found it was failing generations of children.

The Government said it would support 12 of the 28 recommendations made by the inquiry and will consider others.

"Obviously as a Government we'll do everything we can to further strengthen child protection," Premier Gladys Berejiklian said.

"We have 20,000 children in out-of-home care and we will do everything we can to protect not just those children but others in vulnerable families.

"I know the Minister has considered the report and she's adopted in principle the majority of recommendations."

In May, the inquiry into the Department of Family and Community Services (FACS) found consecutive state governments had failed to properly invest in the sector.

The report recommended a one-off injection for "evidence-based prevention and early intervention services".

No new powers for Auditor-General

In its response, the Government said it is committed to further funding.

"The Government has committed $190 million over four years in the 2016-17 budget, including $90.5 million, to implement two new evidence-based intensive family preservation and restoration models aimed at keeping families together," the Government's response said.

But the Opposition's family and community services spokeswoman, Tania Mihailuk, said that was old money allocated in last year's budget.

"When you compare the last two budgets, there's no additional funding whatsoever for early intervention," she said.

"This is despite the inquiry clearly articulating the desperate need for an injection of funding for early intervention."

The Government said it would not extend the powers of the Auditor-General to audit all non-government organisations delivering child protection services, despite a recommendation by the inquiry.

Ms Mihailuk said not adopting this was the most concerning part of the Government's response.

A FACS spokeswoman said the Government would consider further legislative changes recommended by the report.

"The Government will release a discussion paper later this year on possible legislative amendments to further strengthen child protection reform," she said.

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