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Department of Communities plagued by ‘wide scale and endemic racism’ internal reports reveal

The WA government department responsible for the State’s most vulnerable children is plagued by “wide scale and endemic racism within the organisation” and is “at a crisis point in relation to providing services” to improve the lives of Aboriginal people. That’s according to leaked internal documents obtained by The West Australian, that reveal how the Department of Communities’ own staff believe they are being given “deficit training” for working with Aboriginal communities. One report, written by highly respected psychologist and former West Australian of the Year Dr Tracy Westerman but never publicly released, revealed a survey of 295 child protection staff found not a single one of them believed the organisation ensured a “culturally safe work environment”. And just one of those staff members assessed under the Cultural Competency Profile - a tool developed by Dr Westerman to evaluate those working in child protection - was found to meet the cultural competence benchmark. The remaining 294 staff met the benchmark of “cultural incompetence”. “As this data represents an across State snapshot it is frankly a damning response from staff who consistently view the organisation as deficit in their training, development and support,” Dr Westerman’s report states. The report stated there was “wide scale and endemic racism within the organisation” and that this racism led to worker burnout, a “clear and strong perception” that there was a lack of respect for the skills of Indigenous workers and a strong perception that there is a lack of respect for the clinical qualifications of Aboriginal workers to the extent that some workers had left the Department. The overall perception felt was that Indigenous staff were of “less value” than non-Indigenous staff. This was “most pronounced at management levels limiting the promotion of Aboriginal people into these roles and in high risk regions” where Aboriginal workers cultural skills were not being utilised. In the focus groups child protection workers described being “thrown in the deep end” and needing more training. Some even said “many” child removals “can easily be prevented” if staff had proper understanding of Aboriginal cultural norms. “They don’t understand kinship and don’t consult and removal often occurs in the absence of these two things,” notes from one focus group stated. “Aboriginal workers should be travelling to communities together with non-Indigenous (workers), not sending out two white people out to these communities. Aboriginal men are not going to talk to two white ladies about personal issues and that is just the way the culture is,” notes from another focus group said. Focus groups said workers were continuously seeing intergenerational trauma, but there was limited understanding of this and not enough early intervention. Dr Westerman’s report made 49 recommendations including that the Department urgently establish a clear policy to support the ongoing development, measuring and monitoring of child protection cultural competencies. However, even though the report was given to Communities in 2019, a more recent report from 2021 which was also leaked to The West Australian revealed there are internal concerns its recommendations had still not been implemented. The 2021 report was written by consultancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers to advise Communities about establishing a new division for Aboriginal Outcomes. Department staff and stakeholders were also interviewed for this report who described “overt and systematic racism” within Communities that was affecting Aboriginal staff and making them feel unheard. “Several stakeholders highlighted a lack of cultural capability and competency within the Department which is impacting upon service delivery and ultimately outcomes for Aboriginal people and is consistent with the findings of the Westerman report. Stakeholders also highlighted that the recommendations had not been actioned,” the PwC report stated. It described the Department being at a “crisis point in relation to providing services, programs and initiatives to improve outcomes for Aboriginal people in WA”. “The Department is observed to be slow in adopting and enacting change and is often not responsive enough to drive the level of transformation that is required to improve Aboriginal outcomes,” the report stated. Several “on-going and incremental risks” had been identified, the report said, and if there was not urgent change there could be reputational risks, budget blowouts, challenges in retaining and recruiting Aboriginal staff and unacceptable socio-economic outcomes for Aboriginal people and communities in WA. WA’s chances of achieving the Close the Gap targets under the National Agreement would also be jeopardised. Staff and stakeholders who spoke to PwC described the Department as working in “silos” and accused them of saying one thing publicly but then “doing another”. “The Department is extremely siloed and there does not appear to be an appetite to drive ... The organisation has lost a sense of ‘human-ness’,” one person told the report. Minister for Community Services Simone McGurk, pictured below, told The West Australian “the State Government does not tolerate racism in any form. “Since coming into office, we have undertaken significant work to deliver better outcomes for Aboriginal people,” she said. “As part of this commitment, the Department of Communities commissioned these reports to understand how it can strengthen its own cultural capability and improve outcomes for Aboriginal people - both within the agency, and in the communities it works in. “Tackling issues that have been generations in the making will not occur overnight, however we are making significant progress in addressing areas of concern. “The number of Aboriginal people employed by the Department of Communities is significantly exceeding set targets and it currently has the second highest Aboriginal workforce representation of any State Government agency. “The Department of Communities is all about people – at the heart of this are the dedicated employees who are motivated by a desire to make the community a better place. Department of Communities Assistant Director General for Aboriginal Outcomes Cheryl Smith said Dr Westerman’s report was commissioned by the former Department of Child Protection as part of efforts to better guide and improve the agency’s cultural competence. “Communities is the second largest employer of Aboriginal staff in the WA public sector, with an Aboriginal workforce representation of 6.4 per cent,” Ms Smith said. “Communities established a division of Aboriginal Outcomes in July 2021 to drive improvements in cultural competence and responsiveness, Best Practice Partnerships, Aboriginal Workforce Support and to coordinate responses to priority initiatives such as the National Agreement on Closing the Gap. “The State Government recently passed legislation in parliament under the Children and Community Services Amendment Bill 2021, which included key amendments to further support rights and connection to culture for Aboriginal children and families.” She said the work of Dr Westerman and PwC “continues to inform and guide” Communities. Newly-appointed Aboriginal Affairs Minister Tony Buti said the Government was “committed to following the priority reform areas identified in both our Closing the Gap Implementation Plan and the Aboriginal Empowerment Strategy, both of which were issued in 2021”. “A key priority of the Implementation Plan is to increase the amount of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people employed in government, with a focus on Aboriginal representation in governance positions,” he said. Communities has faced a series of scandals over recent years following the revelations one of its former executives Paul Whyte had stolen millions of its money. That included cash meant for vulnerable Aboriginal communities, in what was the biggest case of public sector fraud in Australian history. Referred to as a “super department”, Communities responsibilities include child protection, public housing and domestic violence responses. In recent years The West Australian has revealed a number of cases where First Nations children known to Communities have died. More than half the children in out of home care in WA are Aboriginal. Communities has also come under fire for its response to Perth’s homelessness crisis over the past 18 months.

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Department of Communities plagued by ‘wide scale and endemic racism’ internal reports reveal