South Australia lags behind most of the nation in child protection spending, according to data submitted to the Nyland Royal Commission by concerned stakeholders.

Documents obtained by InDaily, and understood to have been tabled with the child protection inquiry being conducted by former Supreme Court Justice Margaret Nyland, call into question Jay Weatherill’s assertion that his Government has “done more to shine a light on the evil of child sexual abuse (than) any other government around our nation”.

They reveal that in 2012-13, South Australia was ranked second lowest in Australia “in terms of expenditure per child on statutory child protection services”.

Per-child spending on intensive family support services saw SA rank little better, coming in sixth out of the eight jurisdictions, and fifth out of eight on combined child protection spending per capita.

The figures make for grim reading in the light of a raft of reviews and inquiries into the state’s child protection system over the life of the Labor Government, as they show little relative improvement over the preceding 10 years. Indeed, they suggest that on the crucial measures of spending on statutory child protection and intensive family support services, SA has gone backwards.

In 2003-04, the state was ranked third lowest nationally on child protection services, slipping to second lowest in 2012-13; on per-child spending on family support services, it was fourth out of seven jurisdictions in 2003-04, but had slipped to fifth out of eight by 2012-13.

A senior departmental whistleblower, who provided the documents to InDaily, said the State Government – like other jurisdictions — had increased spending over the past 13 years, but primarily on statutory out-of-home care services, where the state has gone from last in expenditure per child to third highest in the nation.

“But very little has gone into frontline investigation and virtually none into intensive family support services,” the source said.

“[Former Premier Mike] Rann and [Treasurer Kevin] Foley really pumped a lot of money into the out-of-home care system, and perversely it was Weatherill, as Minister for Families and Communities, that got to spend that money.”

However, “as Treasurer, Weatherill imposed very significant savings targets on Families SA over a five or six-year period”.

Premier, former Treasurer, former Education Minister and former Families and Communities Minister Jay Weatherill. Photo: Nat Rogers/InDaily

According to InDaily’s informant, Families SA was hit by 40 per cent of the overall budget savings measures to the Department of Education and Child Development, despite representing only 10 per cent of the department’s budget.

“That just put the system under even more pressure,” the source said.

“The system is in a perilous state; it does need to change, but without a significant investment it’s not going to change.”

To make matters worse, while South Australia has consistently lagged well behind the pace-setting New South Wales in terms of comparative spending per child on the care and protection of children, both jurisdictions have a very similar per capita notification rate. In 2012-13, NSW had 38.8 child protection notifications for every thousand children, while SA had 36.6. Two years earlier, in 2010-11, SA had more notifications per capita than NSW.

Yet SA spent only the equivalent of $144.15 for every child in the state on statutory child protection measures in 2012-13; NSW spent $218.48, just above the national average of $218.31.

“SA spends, per capita, significantly more on health and education than any other jurisdiction,” said the source.

“They’re the two biggest spending areas in Government; when you spend more per capita on those you have to spend less per capita on other things, and child protection has consistently been one of those.”

Comparative spending per child in the population

InDaily revealed yesterday the embattled Families SA was unable to investigate more than two thirds of serious child protection notifications, “administratively closing” the files of more than half without further action.

The departmental whistleblower who revealed the extent of the problem expressed concern the public blamed the embattled agency for its troubles because of “this consistent failure to have a really honest conversation with the SA public about what we invest in”.

“[Families SA workers] are doing the best they can in a really stuffed system … being the manager of Families SA in, say, Elizabeth is probably the toughest job in the state,” said the source.

“The whole thing is a dreadful bloody mess … some poor unsuspecting naïve social workers get it in the neck, and the real problem just isn’t spelled out.”

The Government has said it is awaiting recommendations from Justice Nyland.