NSW minister ‘not going anywhere’ as calls mount for independent inquiry into children living with convicted killer

A New South Wales minister says she is “not going anywhere” amid mounting calls for an independent review into why the state government allowed a convicted triple killer to live in a home with two foster children.The NSW minister for families and communities, Kate Washington, apologised on 2GB radio on Wednesday morning after confirming that Regina Arthurell had been removed from a home on Monday where she lived alongside children aged 12 and 14. The removal came after the radio revealed the situation earlier that day.Washington, who also only became aware of the situation after the broadcast, said a departmental review would look into the “multiple system failures” that allowed Arthurell to continue living in the home. She admitted this was despite a report being made to the department about the situation in December.On Thursday, Washington told Guardian Australia: “I’m not going anywhere.” Asked if there should be an independent review, she said: “An urgent review into this matter is already under way.”“This situation was entirely unacceptable, and it’s important that I front up and apologise for what has happened. Vulnerable children in the care of the state should not be living with a triple [killer] .”The secretary of the NSW Department of Communities and Justice, Michael Tidball, told budget estimates on Wednesday that Washington had asked him to oversee the review, saying he expected most of the work to be done “over the next few days”, but he did not know when the review would be finalised.“I will do a proper review. I will do it as quickly as I can. I will not compromise the quality of the investigation,” he said.But the Association of Community Welfare Associations (Acwa), the peak body in NSW for non-government, out-of-home care organisations, told Guardian Australia it supported an independent review.“Independent scrutiny can play an important role in identifying what went wrong, ensuring lessons are learned and strengthening safeguards for children. However, reviews are only valuable if their findings lead to real action.”Imogen Edeson, the CEO of the Create Foundation – a national peak body for children and young people in out-of-home care – called for “serious consideration of an independent review by an external authority”.She said she was “appalled that two children under the care of the state were living in a home with a convicted killer”.“As more alarming details emerge, it appears multiple systems failed to act on reports concerning the safety and care of these two young people. Every agency involved, including senior leadership, now has serious questions to answer.”The NSW Greens families and communities spokesperson, Sue Higginson MLC, also called for an independent review.“Something has gone extremely wrong here,” she told Guardian Australia. “The department should not investigate themselves. I have the upmost respect for Mr Tidball … but that’s not how accountability works.”NSW police confirmed on Wednesday they were called out to the address on 11 February, weeks before Arthurell was removed, after reports of a “domestic related incident” which police said did not involve Arthurell, who was not present at the time.The NSW attorney general, Michael Daley, has also come under scrutiny for failing to renew an extended supervision order (ESO) put in place after Arthurell’s release in 2020, which expired in December 2024.At budget estimates on Wednesday, he blamed Corrective Services NSW (CSNSW), saying a high-risk offenders assessment committee chaired by the commissioner of CSNSW did not refer Arthurell for further consideration.A spokesperson for CSNSW said high-risk offenders were considered by comprehensive, multi-agency committees “that include representatives from NSW police, CSNSW, and Justice Health and Forensic Mental Health”.Arthurell, who is transgender, was convicted of two counts of manslaughter and one count of murder over three killings carried out before she transitioned, including manslaughter convictions for the stabbing to death of her stepfather in 1974, and the killing of a 19-year-old in a robbery in the Northern Territory in 1981.While on parole for manslaughter in 1995, she bludgeoned to death her former partner Venet Raylee Mulhall at her Coonabarabran home in the NSW central west, and was sentenced to 24 years in prison for murder.At a hearing for her ESO in 2021, a supreme court justice said Arthurell was making sincere efforts at rehabilitation but had a “proclivity to violently terminate the lives of fellow human beings”.Asked on Thursday if he would ask Washington to resign, the NSW premier, Chris Minns, said: “No, I won’t.”“It is one of the most difficult jobs in government, finding safe and secure homes for vulnerable children.”In a statement, a spokesperson for the office of the NSW children’s guardian, which independently oversees the childcare industry for the government, said it “will participate in any government response or inquiry to the reported situation as appropriate”.