We heard loud and clear that resourcing and the amount of time and service you can provide to any particular case remain the biggest and most concerning matters for you at the joint meetings across the state last week.

The government’s offer made to us so far fails to address two substantial issues:

• The payment of a market allowance to child safety workers: We need a market allowance to help fix the chronic and ongoing recruitment and retention challenges that this Department and the two that came before have all failed to address.

• The absence of a safe and sustainable caseload management system: In the past, we’ve enforced a system that was unsophisticated but essential for your health and safety and the safety of the young people and families you support. The proposed system in the offer is nothing more than a guide that creates no rights for you to manage your own workload. It’ll also leave kids on a list that you might work on from time to time, which has largely insufficient oversight.

We’re also taking the Department to task over the expansion of services provided by non-government partners, which has occurred without any consultation with us!

We’re writing to the Department to tell them that the offer falls well short on the important issues and that you have made it clear that you’re prepared to take industrial action in earnest.

Keep an eye out for upcoming meetings in your area over the next week or so. We’ll be planning our next steps.

In the meantime, if you have questions or need more information, you can get in touch with us via HACSUassist.