Minister of the People, Social Development and Family Services Vandana Mohit has rejected an attempt by Opposition MP Camille Robinson-Regis to portray her concerns about the Children’s Authority as an attack on the professional qualifications of its Board.
In a media release issued today (October 18, 2026), Minister Mohit said Robinson-Regis’s statement of October 17 went to great lengths to defend the qualifications of Board members but avoided the issues she raised during her contribution to the 2027 Budget Debate: the financial governance, mounting liabilities and management practices of an institution entrusted with protecting the nation’s most vulnerable children.
“Professional qualifications are no substitute for sound financial management, and a statutory appointment does not place anyone above public scrutiny,” she said.
The Minister indicated that since assuming office she has spearheaded interventions to settle more than $75.5 million in financial commitments involving the Authority. These include $36 million in outstanding contractual obligations and $17.8 million in unremitted statutory obligations. She noted that a further $8.25 million was paid towards outstanding commitments as recently as October 15, 2026.
Minister Mohit asked where MP Robinson-Regis’s outrage was while the liabilities were accumulating, and where her concern was when statutory obligations went unremitted and service providers awaited payment.
She also said she has raised serious concerns about transportation expenditure and institutional oversight, including matters referred to the appropriate authorities for examination, and that these “demand answers, not political deflection.”
Responding to Robinson-Regis’s questions about her interventions with the Board, which she said have been limited and confined to writing, Minister Mohit said: “I was appointed to get the work done, not simply to sit in meetings. My priority has been to address the outstanding debts, ensure services continue and bring greater accountability to the use of public funds.”
The Minister stressed that she did not create the longstanding financial obligations but inherited the responsibility to address them. “Mrs. Robinson-Regis may choose to defend professional titles,” she said. “I will continue to defend the public purse and the welfare of our nation’s children.”