Qld Child Safety IT system to be fixed within six months

The Queensland government has assembled a team of 120 staff to remediate a $183 million client and case management system built for child safety in the state.

The system, which is the subject of two audits, had suffered problems since its go-live in April last year that affected both staff access to information and "the ability to share information with partner agencies.

The state government shared topline outcomes of a one review of the project over the weekend, highlighting that a decision to insource the work midway through delivery, and the late culling of features from the system due to deadline constraints, contributed to the problems with the system, which is known as ‘Unify’.

The government said it had a team of 120 staff assembled to “fix” the system.

The team’s immediate work will be data-focused, before undertaking “stabilising” works “through major redevelopment”.

It will also be tasked with delivering the “critical system functionality that was descoped” from the project in 2023.

All of this work is targeted to be completed within six months.

“The … government is committed to fixing Unify and we have a detailed plan on how the department will fix the system to ensure vulnerable children are safe, we can publish critical data and frontline staff have the tools they need,” Minister for Child Safety Amanda Camm said in a statement.

“I have instructed my department to commence work on building the descoped work, as well as restore data reporting as a priority.”

Camm said that while the decision to set the system live was made on the present government’s watch, it was decisions made under the previous state government that caused the project to stumble.