A mother who killed her eight-week-old twin daughter and left the other with permanent brain damage will not be stripped of her working with children permit.
Tina Terlato pleaded guilty to infanticide after baby Amanda died with a fractured skull and brain bleeds at their Melbourne home in April 2012, while the youngster's sister Alicia was injured so badly she has lifelong disabilities.
In May it was revealed Terlato, a diehard Essendon Football Club supporter, obtained a permit to make AFL banners alongside kids.
Despite calls by family members and the state opposition to review the permit, Attorney-General Jaclyn Symes said she couldn't reverse the decision unless Terlato committed another crime.
Tina Terlato (pictured) was charged with murder, but instead pleaded guilty to one count of infanticide and was sentenced to a 12-month community corrections order
When Alicia Terlato and her twin sister Amanda (pictured) were just eight weeks old when they were violently attacked by their mother. Amanda's injuries proved fatal, while Alicia will suffer from disabilities for life
'As Attorney-General, I am unable to intervene in individual assessments and cannot seek an appeal with respect to decision made,' she wrote in a letter to Terlato's heartbroken family, according to the Herald Sun.
'Internal reassessments of a decision to give a person a working with children check can only be conducted if a relevant change in circumstances occurs with respect to the WWCC card holder,' she said.
Ms Symes acknowledged the family's suffering and said the government reviewed the working with children scheme regularly to ensure the rules were as tight as possible.
Shadow Attorney-General Edward O'Donohue, who appealed to Ms Symes to overturn the decision in May, deemed her response 'cold and callous'.
Tina Terlato (centre) has been granted a working with children permit to work for Essendon
He said it showed a lack of empathy and compassion for the family who continue to grieve for Amanda, and the loss of the person Alicia would have become if she wasn't brain damaged.
The twins' aunt and uncle Michelle and Joe said they were upset by the attorney-general's response.
'This just shows there are clear loopholes in the system and it's so frustrating that she can still be granted a working with children check, despite what's happened,' they said.
In May, the girls' father Paul Terlato said: 'Every time I see her face when she poses up with AFL players or when I hear about her attending games - it just brings back bad memories.'
Alicia's father Paul (pictured with Alicia and his other son, Luke) was told his surviving daughter would likely be confined to a wheelchair for life, but she has 'defied the odds'
'I'm shocked, I'm disgusted, I'm angry. Essendon Football Club and the AFL need to stop her membership and refuse her entry anywhere in Australia.'
The new job has her helping to design and construct the banner players run through before games, a job that often includes child volunteers.
It's not known how someone with the convictions like Terlato was able to obtain a working with children permit, which are only handed to people with no prior convictions.
In a letter sent by Essendon to its members over the hiring of Terlato the club said 'criminal convictions don't prohibit people from becoming members of the club'.
'Passing a police, background check is not a requirement. All members of the Bomber Squad are required to pass a working with children check in order to participate in activities like banner making,' the letter obtained by the Herald Sun says.
'If a member's status ever changes, then we would act accordingly.'
