CHILD PROTECTION

Mr PISONI (Unley) (14:43): My question is to the Minister for Education and Child Development. Can the minister detail to the house just what support services have been provided to families in the western suburbs school where Mark Harvey raped an eight year old?

The Hon. G. PORTOLESI (Hartley—Minister for Education and Child Development) (14:44): I thank the member for this important question. In fact, I had the opportunity yesterday to visit the school in question and meet with the staff. I thank the staff of this particular school. They have done an outstanding job, as all of our teachers do, and they are struggling, as so many are, given the present circumstances. We have offered, as the Premier mentioned in his statement earlier, a range of support services to parents, to children, to staff. There is a hotline available also.

I gave a personal commitment that we will work with the school and the staff and parents. I gave that commitment to parents and other representatives when I met with them last week. So, the government certainly acknowledges that there are elements of this incident that we are very keen to get to the bottom of, and we will. We are determined to do that, and we will certainly not abandon our obligations to support this school community.