mandatory reporting. The volte-face was caused by the death of Daniel Valerio and, more specifically, the trial of Paul Aiton for his murder (Goddard and Liddell 1993). Daniel's cruelly curtailed life can only be summarised very briefly here. The account is based on media coverage in The Sunday Age (Tippet 1993) and the Community Services Victoria (CSV, now known as the Department of Human Services) internal inquiry report (CSV 1991). Born in early 1988, Daniel stayed with his mother Cheryl Butcher when his parents separated. Early in 1990, she formed a relationship with Paul Aiton and soon afterwards a number of people noticed bruising on Daniel. Reports were made to protective services in August 1990. Short-staffed, they did not respond but passed information on to the police. Inadequate communication, failures to follow procedures, and lost or confused messages exemplified responses. When the police eventually visited Daniel's home, Daniel and his four-year-old brother were both found to have extensive bruising. Daniel's brother claimed that he had been hit with a stick by Paul Aiton, and he even took the police to retrieve the tree branch he said was used as a weapon. The police removed the stick and arranged for a medical examination by the Police Surgeon. A few days later, in September 1990, and after visits to a general practitioner on three occasions, Daniel was dead. A post-mortem examination revealed internal injuries akin to those found in road accident victims, more than 100 bruises, and old fractures to both clavicles.