NSW minister Kate Washington under fire over payment to Labor-linked carer
Updated ,first published
NSW Families and Communities Minister Kate Washington has ordered her department to pay $40,000 to a Catholic not-for-profit organization to drop a case against a Labor-linked Hunter foster carer.
The controversial payment led a former senior Catholic official to make a series of extraordinary claims against Washington and the Department for Communities and Justice, including that government funding would be threatened if the organization did not “toe the line”.
In 2024, Washington ordered his department to pay CatholicCare $39,316 in exchange for dropping a nonprofit lawsuit against a foster care provider for whom it mistakenly paid benefits for almost two years after her foster status ended. The minister approved the payment on the recommendation of the ministry.
The minister subsequently opposed the department’s recommendation to allow a special ex-gratia payment of $15,000 to the carer. Daily Telegraph.
Caregiver, whose reporter I cannot name him for legal reasons, he has close ties to the Labor Party.
Documents received by reporter Washington, through an order of parliament, intervened in the use of almost $40,000 in public funds to repay Catholic Care on behalf of the caregiver.
A DCJ official confirmed in a letter to CatholicCare in January 2024 that Washington had requested that the amount be paid by the department. “Accordingly, CCHM will withdraw the legal proceedings against him. [the carer]” the official wrote.
The email also stated that the ministry would draft a confidentiality agreement regarding the payment.
The ministry’s payment sparked significant outrage at CatholicCare and led to a series of crisis meetings in the diocese. The decision was initially made to quarantine the money while the organization evaluated its options.
In May 2024, Sean Scanlon, then chief executive of the Catholic Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle, wrote to the DCJ expressing concerns about the ministry and the minister’s handling of the “highly unusual” case and objecting to the signing of a confidentiality agreement.
“We were stunned by the response,” Scanlon said. reporter.
“We took legal advice… I wrote to the Ministry and questioned their direction… The matter went to our advisory board. [and] We considered reporting it to ICAC.”
In his letter, Scanlon said DCJ had verbally requested that CatholicCare staff delete any mention of the minister in written correspondence. He also said the nonprofit’s staff believed there was a “regard” in their dealings with the DCJ that ongoing funding could be affected if the minister did not accept his intervention.
He also said the diocese would not sign a confidentiality agreement, saying it “looks like a closure agreement.”
“I would never have signed that. I couldn’t believe it.”
Another CatholicCare employee speaking reporter He described the process as “extremely unusual” on condition of anonymity.
“The consensus among senior leaders…was outrage,” they said.
Washington said in a statement that the lawsuit “guarantees a no-cost settlement to ensure that a foster care provider who continues to care for a vulnerable youth is not left tens of thousands of dollars out of pocket.”
“The relevant NGO was aware that the young person continued to live with the foster carer. During this period, the staff went to the foster carer’s home to meet with the young person,” he said.
“I was presented with technical and bureaucratic reasons why this foster carer should bear these costs personally. I did not believe this was fair and I stand by my decision.
“The payment did not provide any specific benefit. It merely provided reimbursement to the foster carer for the ordinary costs of caring for a child that would have been paid had it not been for the administrative issues.”
He said he had no relationship with the caregiver.
Washington is under pressure over a series of scandals in his own department, including the decision to allow two foster children to live with a convicted triple murderer and the alleged murder of a child at the hands of his mother, who has been the subject of multiple child safety concerns.
Asked on July 14 whether Washington had acted appropriately in making a $15,000 ex-gratia payment to the foster carer, Prime Minister Chris Minns said he had not spoken to the minister but was satisfied it was a “reasonable intervention”.
That’s partly because the dispute between the caregiver and the Catholic nonprofit was not caused by the government, although the ministry recommended against the payment. In advising the minister, the DCJ said it would set an “unhelpful precedent” and warned it carried “significant reputational risk”.
“The moral justification is limited,” the ministry said in briefings received through parliament.
However, the latest statements are likely to put more pressure on the minister.
Opposition families and communities spokeswoman Natasha Maclaren-Jones said Scanlon’s comments showed Minns “cannot look the other way”.
“This raises serious questions about whether decisions are made fairly and consistently, or whether the rules change depending on who has the minister’s ear,” he said.
Scanlon said: reporter he and other staff at the Catholic diocese were aware of the carer’s links to the Labor Party.
“This whole thing looked like an old-school backroom deal,” he said.
“I thought we were over this.”
Member for Port Stephens, Washington, said he did not know the carer despite his links to the Labor Party. This issue was first brought to the attention of another MP, who made two further representations on behalf of the carer in August and September.
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EXPLANATION
This story has been updated with additional context regarding confirmation of payment.
Jessica McSweeney is a reporter covering state politics and city affairs for The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via email.
