Bureaucracy blamed for child's death

The man charged with investigating the bashing death of a two-year-old toddler has blamed a disjointed state bureaucracy for the tragedy.

Hayley Monteau died in August, four weeks after being bashed by her father, who later committed suicide.

The girl was known to child protection authorities and the case has since attracted widespread scrutiny.

Child Safety Commissioner Bernie Geary undertook an investigation but a report has not been released publicly.

However, on the day a damning ombudsman's report exposed gross failures of Victoria's child protection system, the government released its response to Mr Geary's findings.

The commissioner also spoke publicly, albeit guardedly, about the systemic failures that contributed to Hayley's death.

He said there was no cohesion between government departments and agencies, such as police and the Department of Human Services (DHS).

"The information that I gave to government alluded to, in my opinion, a dearth in the way in which some of the systems, the silos interacted with each other," Mr Geary told reporters.

"I made criticisms and expressed my concerns around just how the different government silos interacted with each other and felt that people weren't acting together in the interests of the child's safety and wellbeing."

Mr Geary would not go into specifics, saying they would be contained in a broader report he would submit to the Victorian Child Death Review Committee.

In a snapshot of his findings, released by the Victorian government, Mr Geary identified problems with workloads and staff shortages in the child protection office managing Hayley's case.

Supervision and training was limited in the rural locations where the toddler lived, and there needed to be more interaction between police and child protection workers, he found.

Community Services Minister Lisa Neville said the government would adopt all of Mr Geary's recommendations

26 Nov 2009