Ministerial Statement

FAMILIES AND COMMUNITIES REPORT

The Hon. J.M. RANKINE (Wright—Minister for Families and Communities, Minister for Housing, Minister for Ageing, Minister for Disability) (14:09): I seek leave to make a ministerial statement.

Leave granted.

The Hon. J.M. RANKINE: Last sitting week I was accused by the member for Bragg of somehow seeking to hide the details in an addendum to the 2009-10 annual report for the Department for Families and Communities. I wish to advise the house that the report and the addendum were lodged with the cabinet office for tabling in parliament on 11 November 2010. At that time I understood that the addendum was tabled with the annual report on 11 November; however, that was not the case.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.M. RANKINE: Further investigations with the cabinet office and the procedures office in Parliament House have confirmed that the addendum was not specifically tabled in both houses of parliament, although my office approved the tabling of both documents. It appears that an administrative error occurred—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.M. RANKINE: —after the report and addendum had left my office. There was no intention to hide information contained in the addendum. Quite the contrary. It was published on the department's website on 11 November, the day the report was tabled in parliament.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. J.M. RANKINE: That's right; I hid it on the World Wide Web—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.M. RANKINE: —and how many months did it take you to find it?

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Members interjecting:

The Hon. J.M. RANKINE: Well it worked then, didn't it? It took you a long time to find it. The Public Sector Act 2009 requires that annual reports be submitted to the relevant minister within three months after the end of a financial year; that is, by 30 September. The minister then has 12 sitting days to table the report. An addendum was drafted and received by my office on 9 November 2010—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.M. RANKINE: —to replace page 34 of the annual report, which contained Families SA notification data for 2009-10 that was unavailable as at 30 September 2010. The addendum was necessary only because data was not available at the time the annual report was assembled.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!