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Queensland's opposition is demanding the state government release the full investigation report examining its handling of the child safety case involving two toddlers who died in a hot car.
WARNING: This story contains content that readers may find distressing.
Key points:
- Mother Kerri-Ann Conley was sentenced to nine years in prison for the manslaughter over the deaths of her daughters
- A key report involving their deaths can finally be tabled in parliament because the appeals period for her case has ended
- Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk is seeking advice on releasing the report
Darcey-Helen Conley, 2, and her sister Chloe-Ann Conley, 1, were left in a vehicle by their mother Kerri-Ann Conley on a searing day in November 2019.
"This report must be released for Darcey and Chloe, as well as thousands of vulnerable Queensland children who deserve to be safe," shadow minister for child protection Amanda Camm said.
Kerri-Ann Conley was sentenced in February to nine years in prison for manslaughter.
She was a chronic ice user, which the court found contributed to her severe neglect of the girls and their eventual deaths.
ABC's Background Briefing last month revealed a series of catastrophic failures by Queensland's child safety department in the lead up to Darcey and Chloe's deaths.
Several of these failures were identified in a confidential investigation by the Queensland Family and Child Commission.
The commission's findings can finally be tabled in parliament because the appeals period for the Conley criminal case was finalised yesterday.
"The Queensland Family and Child Commission Report (QFCC) must be released now, and it must be released in full, so vulnerable children in Queensland can be protected," Ms Camm said.
"Child safety reforms are urgent and critical, so the failures in the Conley case are not repeated."
The state opposition said it wanted the report tabled today because state parliament is not sitting again until March 28. However, the report can be tabled out of session.
"We want the opportunity for the premier to stand up and explain to Queenslanders, explain to families, as to what happened in this case and what has the government done in responding to that to ensure it doesn't happen again," Ms Camm said.
The attorney-general's office, which oversees the QFCC, told ABC Investigations the report, along with the government's response, would be tabled either tomorrow or early next week.
"For the government to not release this report on a day of parliament where they can provide statements, where they can be questioned by the opposition and the community, is unacceptable," Ms Camm said.
In response to Ms Camm's question in Parliament asking for the report to be released today, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said she would seek advice from the children's commissioner and the attorney-general.
"We gave a commitment we would do that after everything's been finalised and we'll get an update on that matter," she said.
A series of failures revealed
The QFCC investigation made findings on departmental failures in the Conley case and recommendations to prevent those mistakes happening again.
It found that the department of child safety first became involved with Conley in 2017 when Darcey was only several months old, after receiving reports that she was taking her out at night while using drugs.
Darcey was taken into foster care for a few months and returned to Conley later that year after several clean drug tests.
Background Briefing last month revealed the investigators found the department missed a crucial opportunity to work with Conley when she was clean by not developing a case plan.
They also found that the department closed Conley's case prematurely in mid-2018, when she refused to keep working with child safety, despite case plan goals not being met.
Investigators believed the intervention should have continued, including the potential removal of Darcey.
However, the commission also found the Queensland Police Service (QPS) failed to tell child safety about allegations that Conley was taking and dealing drugs when the department asked it for any information about her at the time it was deciding whether to close her case.
The ABC previously revealed Darcey's father Peter Jackson had made a series of desperate pleas for help to the department three weeks before Darcey and Chloe's deaths.
He reported that Chloe had previously been left in the car and he and a doctor reported concerns that the girls had been exposed to methamphetamines at their mother's house.
QFCC investigators found that those reports were discredited as part of a custody dispute.
Mr Jackson has called for an independent commission of inquiry to examine the wider operation of the department, with 69 other children known to the department dying in the year ending June 2022.
The child safety officer for Darcey and Conley also previously spoke out about her crippling caseload, stating she could have prevented the girls' deaths if she hadn't been so overloaded.
The department of child safety and QPS declined to comment at the time, citing to legal reasons.
For the full investigation into Darcey and Chloe's death, download the Background Briefing podcast: How the system failed to save Darcey and Chloe.