This paper examines the common and persistent challenge of managing backlogs across public sector administration. It explores why backlogs occur, the impacts of delay and the risks that arise when backlogs are poorly managed. Drawing on recent investigations and case studies in New South Wales, the paper outlines practical approaches to preventing and managing backlogs.

Identifying and responding when children and young people are at risk of harm is a core element of the Department of Communities and Justice’s role in the NSW child protection system. This investigation denounces DCJ’s longstanding practice of closing risk of significant harm (ROSH) reports on the stated basis that it has inadequate resourcing.

This report concludes that the Intensive Therapeutic Care (ITC) program for children in Out-of-Home Care (OOHC) with high and complex needs is not operating as intended and is not achieving its key objectives. The report makes 12 recommendations that seek to inform, enhance and strengthen future reforms related to therapeutic residential OOHC in New South Wales.

The Mandatory Disease Testing Act is intended to protect the health of government employees through mandatory blood testing of a person whose bodily fluids have come into contact with a worker. This report finds the Act has failed to improve the wellbeing of workers, while providing insufficient protection for third parties, in particular Aboriginal and...

This special report looks in detail at the experiences of Aboriginal people navigating the Department of Communities and Justice's (DCJ) system, highlighting the challenges and barriers they face. It finds that the DCJ complaint system lacks integration, coordination and consistency and is not sufficiently attuned or accessible to Aboriginal people. The report makes 58 recommendations...