❓ Question regarding Minister McHale's comments on ABC radio concerning abuse in foster care and the responsibility of adults. The Minister clarifies her position, emphasizing that abuse is unacceptable but understanding the context is important.
AnsweredQoN 545Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
The Australian Childhood Foundation states - Children are never to blame for the abuse they suffer from adults. Adults are always responsible for their own behaviour to children. No matter how children behave, an adult never has any right to abuse a child. Given this position of the Australian Childhood Foundation, how does the minister justify her comments on ABC radio on 15 September that where the behaviour pushes the foster carer or relative to the limits, there may well be a reaction, and that is recorded as abuse, as so it should be, but we need to understand the environment which these children come from? Ms S.M. McHALE
AnswerView source ↗
Very briefly, that question was asked in the upper house although it was framed in a slightly different way. I made it very clear when I spoke on ABC radio that it was abuse and it should be looked upon as abuse. The member for Nedlands is a parent and many members are parents. My son is 21 tomorrow, and I am very proud of him. What I was trying to explain on radio is this: as a parent, how many times do we all get pushed to a limit? All I was trying to say was that we need to better understand what is happening to children in care. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : Order! Ms S.M. McHALE : This is exactly what our government is doing. Let me make it absolutely clear: under no circumstances was I suggesting that the child was to blame. That is what the opposition is trying to imply. If members look at the transcript, they will see that I said that it is abuse and it should be abuse, but that we should have some considered understanding of what is happening to foster children, the very difficult environment that foster parents are working in and the environments in which children are living. This government is trying to increase the safety and wellbeing of all children, and in particular, very difficult, very abused and vulnerable children.
Ms S.M. McHALE replied: Very briefly, that question was asked in the upper house although it was framed in a slightly different way. I made it very clear when I spoke on ABC radio that it was abuse and it should be looked upon as abuse. The member for Nedlands is a parent and many members are parents. My son is 21 tomorrow, and I am very proud of him. What I was trying to explain on radio is this: as a parent, how many times do we all get pushed to a limit? All I was trying to say was that we need to better understand what is happening to children in care. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : Order! Ms S.M. McHALE : This is exactly what our government is doing. Let me make it absolutely clear: under no circumstances was I suggesting that the child was to blame. That is what the opposition is trying to imply. If members look at the transcript, they will see that I said that it is abuse and it should be abuse, but that we should have some considered understanding of what is happening to foster children, the very difficult environment that foster parents are working in and the environments in which children are living. This government is trying to increase the safety and wellbeing of all children, and in particular, very difficult, very abused and vulnerable children.
Very briefly, that question was asked in the upper house although it was framed in a slightly different way. I made it very clear when I spoke on ABC radio that it was abuse and it should be looked upon as abuse. The member for Nedlands is a parent and many members are parents. My son is 21 tomorrow, and I am very proud of him. What I was trying to explain on radio is this: as a parent, how many times do we all get pushed to a limit? All I was trying to say was that we need to better understand what is happening to children in care. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : Order! Ms S.M. McHALE : This is exactly what our government is doing. Let me make it absolutely clear: under no circumstances was I suggesting that the child was to blame. That is what the opposition is trying to imply. If members look at the transcript, they will see that I said that it is abuse and it should be abuse, but that we should have some considered understanding of what is happening to foster children, the very difficult environment that foster parents are working in and the environments in which children are living. This government is trying to increase the safety and wellbeing of all children, and in particular, very difficult, very abused and vulnerable children.
Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : Order! Ms S.M. McHALE : This is exactly what our government is doing. Let me make it absolutely clear: under no circumstances was I suggesting that the child was to blame. That is what the opposition is trying to imply. If members look at the transcript, they will see that I said that it is abuse and it should be abuse, but that we should have some considered understanding of what is happening to foster children, the very difficult environment that foster parents are working in and the environments in which children are living. This government is trying to increase the safety and wellbeing of all children, and in particular, very difficult, very abused and vulnerable children.
The SPEAKER : Order! Ms S.M. McHALE : This is exactly what our government is doing. Let me make it absolutely clear: under no circumstances was I suggesting that the child was to blame. That is what the opposition is trying to imply. If members look at the transcript, they will see that I said that it is abuse and it should be abuse, but that we should have some considered understanding of what is happening to foster children, the very difficult environment that foster parents are working in and the environments in which children are living. This government is trying to increase the safety and wellbeing of all children, and in particular, very difficult, very abused and vulnerable children.
Ms S.M. McHALE : This is exactly what our government is doing. Let me make it absolutely clear: under no circumstances was I suggesting that the child was to blame. That is what the opposition is trying to imply. If members look at the transcript, they will see that I said that it is abuse and it should be abuse, but that we should have some considered understanding of what is happening to foster children, the very difficult environment that foster parents are working in and the environments in which children are living. This government is trying to increase the safety and wellbeing of all children, and in particular, very difficult, very abused and vulnerable children.
Ms S.M. McHALE replied: Very briefly, that question was asked in the upper house although it was framed in a slightly different way. I made it very clear when I spoke on ABC radio that it was abuse and it should be looked upon as abuse. The member for Nedlands is a parent and many members are parents. My son is 21 tomorrow, and I am very proud of him. What I was trying to explain on radio is this: as a parent, how many times do we all get pushed to a limit? All I was trying to say was that we need to better understand what is happening to children in care. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : Order! Ms S.M. McHALE : This is exactly what our government is doing. Let me make it absolutely clear: under no circumstances was I suggesting that the child was to blame. That is what the opposition is trying to imply. If members look at the transcript, they will see that I said that it is abuse and it should be abuse, but that we should have some considered understanding of what is happening to foster children, the very difficult environment that foster parents are working in and the environments in which children are living. This government is trying to increase the safety and wellbeing of all children, and in particular, very difficult, very abused and vulnerable children.
Very briefly, that question was asked in the upper house although it was framed in a slightly different way. I made it very clear when I spoke on ABC radio that it was abuse and it should be looked upon as abuse. The member for Nedlands is a parent and many members are parents. My son is 21 tomorrow, and I am very proud of him. What I was trying to explain on radio is this: as a parent, how many times do we all get pushed to a limit? All I was trying to say was that we need to better understand what is happening to children in care. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : Order! Ms S.M. McHALE : This is exactly what our government is doing. Let me make it absolutely clear: under no circumstances was I suggesting that the child was to blame. That is what the opposition is trying to imply. If members look at the transcript, they will see that I said that it is abuse and it should be abuse, but that we should have some considered understanding of what is happening to foster children, the very difficult environment that foster parents are working in and the environments in which children are living. This government is trying to increase the safety and wellbeing of all children, and in particular, very difficult, very abused and vulnerable children.
Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : Order! Ms S.M. McHALE : This is exactly what our government is doing. Let me make it absolutely clear: under no circumstances was I suggesting that the child was to blame. That is what the opposition is trying to imply. If members look at the transcript, they will see that I said that it is abuse and it should be abuse, but that we should have some considered understanding of what is happening to foster children, the very difficult environment that foster parents are working in and the environments in which children are living. This government is trying to increase the safety and wellbeing of all children, and in particular, very difficult, very abused and vulnerable children.
The SPEAKER : Order! Ms S.M. McHALE : This is exactly what our government is doing. Let me make it absolutely clear: under no circumstances was I suggesting that the child was to blame. That is what the opposition is trying to imply. If members look at the transcript, they will see that I said that it is abuse and it should be abuse, but that we should have some considered understanding of what is happening to foster children, the very difficult environment that foster parents are working in and the environments in which children are living. This government is trying to increase the safety and wellbeing of all children, and in particular, very difficult, very abused and vulnerable children.
Ms S.M. McHALE : This is exactly what our government is doing. Let me make it absolutely clear: under no circumstances was I suggesting that the child was to blame. That is what the opposition is trying to imply. If members look at the transcript, they will see that I said that it is abuse and it should be abuse, but that we should have some considered understanding of what is happening to foster children, the very difficult environment that foster parents are working in and the environments in which children are living. This government is trying to increase the safety and wellbeing of all children, and in particular, very difficult, very abused and vulnerable children.
Explore WA Government Data
Search the full archive in the free dashboard, or query programmatically via API.
Explore more
Government Gazette
Appointments, regulatory notices, planning changes.
Hansard
Debates, questions, speeches and sentiment.
Tabled Papers
Reports and documents tabled in Parliament.
Committees
Committee profiles and recent reports.
Regulations
Subsidiary legislation with filters and summaries.
Bills
Proposed laws and parliamentary progress.
Acts
Current WA legislation and summaries.
Explanatory Memoranda
Bills with EMs (text/PDF) available.
Members
MP profiles, party breakdown and rankings.
Pollie Rankings
Data-driven rankings across 19 categories.
Amendment Chains
Track how schemes and regulations evolve over time.