A whistleblower contacted local radio station 2GB to report that a 12-year-old and 14-year-old were living with 79-year-old Regina Arthurell, triggering government intervention in late 2025. The revelation exposed a breakdown in state child protection systems that had allowed a convicted killer released on parole in November 2020 after serving a 24-year sentence to share accommodation with two of NSW's most vulnerable young people.
The timeline raises pressing questions about institutional accountability. An extended supervision order on Arthurell lapsed in December 2024, yet the Department of Communities and Justice took no steps to seek replacement oversight. During a budget estimates hearing on Wednesday, the state's Attorney General Michael Daley faced questions about why Arthurell's supervision order was allowed to lapse when it expired in 2024. Coalition MP Damien Tudehope pressed the point directly: "You took no action to seek an extended supervision order and the circumstances of this person... now living with a woman who is significantly at risk and her foster children. No one in the government took any any steps in relation to it. Do you think that's acceptable in protecting community safety?"
Arthurell began sharing a home with the foster children after being invited to stay by an elderly woman she met at Westmead Hospital. The woman's daughter then alerted police after growing concerned for the safety of her mother and the children. Armed police raided the home and separated the serial killer from the others.
NSW Minister for Communities and Families Kate Washington said the situation was unacceptable. In an interview on 2GB, she told host Ben Fordham that the Department was made aware of the arrangement in late December. When asked if she had witnessed a failure of this magnitude before, Washington replied: "No, I haven't. I could not have been more shocked and horrified."
Washington took personal responsibility, stating that the department made "very poor decisions" once it became aware of the situation. She said the review would "go through the whole timeline. Who knew what, when? And who made what decisions, when?" She confirmed that Arthurell has since been relocated away from the children.
The case sits against a broader backdrop of systemic dysfunction in NSW child protection. The NSW Auditor-General's office has published multiple damning reports on the Department of Communities and Justice. DCJ does not monitor the wellbeing of children in out of home care, meaning the department does not have the information needed to meet its legislative responsibility to ensure that children 'receive such care and protection as is necessary for their safety, welfare and well-being'.
The case raises fundamental questions about risk assessment and resource allocation. A High Risk Offenders Assessment Committee advises the government on extended supervision orders, informed by "months and months of medical and psychiatric and other assessments made by the experts". Yet Arthurell's order was allowed to expire without apparent scrutiny or renewal application.
Washington also noted unspecified complexities in the situation that she could not share publicly to protect the children's privacy. She described the scenario as "entirely unacceptable" and apologised for what had occurred. The children are no longer at risk, but the institutional failures that placed them there remain under investigation.