Grievance Debate

CHILD PROTECTION

The Hon. I.F. EVANS (Davenport) (15:20): Let me get this right, Madam Speaker. This is what the government wants us to believe in relation to this sex abuse case at the school: they want us to believe that, when education minister (now Premier Jay Weatherill, who in a previous ministry had set up the Mullighan inquiry into child abuse), a rape at a school occurs of an eight year old and no-one but no-one tells the minister—absolutely no-one tells the minister.

The reality is that every education minister will tell you there is a thing called a critical incident notification that goes to the minister's office, and it goes to the minister's office for a particular reason: so that the minister is told. The same staff—chief of staff, Simon Blewett, adviser Jadynne Harvey, and media adviser Bronwyn Hurrell—are the same staff the Premier has now. These were the opportunities that those people had to tell the now Premier, then education minister, about this incident.

I have been a minister, and I know how a minister's office works. There are early morning meetings about what issues are floating around in your department and in your portfolio. Every minister is briefed on a regular basis. So, at the 8 o'clock, 9 o'clock, or the morning briefing, whenever it was, they want us to believe that the chief of staff knew and just did not tell the minister. At the end of the day, when you are summing up the day's activities, 'What incidents are floating around in my portfolio?' they want us to believe that no-one told the Premier, no-one told the then minister.

They want us to believe that when the minister was going out to do press conferences on a whole range of issues not one person in the office leant across to the minister and said, 'By the way, minister, you may actually get a question on the arrest for a rape of an eight year old at a school.' Madam Speaker, can you believe it? This is the story the government wants us to believe. Do they really expect us to believe that Simon Blewett did not tell Bronwyn Hurrell, the media adviser, 'There's been a rape at a school. Let's not tell the media adviser'? I doubt that—I doubt that most sincerely.

And what is Jadynne Harvey's position on this matter? Is he saying that he never told the media adviser? This is the story this government wants us to believe. And then, when the minister was coming it parliament, do you think that the chief of staff, or the media adviser, or the education adviser might have whispered in his shell-like ear, 'Minister, you might just get a question about the arrest of someone who raped an eight year old at one of your schools.' You would think someone might just tell the minister that, or you may think that when he was preparing for the estimates committees there might have been someone saying, 'This issue has been floating around, minister. You might just want to be aware of it, ready for an answer.' This is the story they want us to believe.

They want us to believe that, when there were numerous visits to school, not one of those staff members leant across to the minister and said, 'Minister, be aware, the parents are going to be sensitive, the principal has been sensitive, there has been a rape at the school. Be aware of this.' They want us to believe that not the chief of staff told him, not the media adviser told him, not the education adviser told him, and not the head of the department—absolutely no-one told him in preparation for visits to the school.

No-one told him when he was about to be with head of the department. No-one told him, 'You might get this brief from the head of the department.' This is the story that the government wants us to believe. Can you believe it, Madam Speaker? No-one told the minister when two of his staff got the email. No-one told the minister when the critical incident report came up. No-one told the minister when he was walking into parliament. No-one told the minister when he was walking into a press conference. No-one told the minister when he was walking into an estimates committee. No-one told the minister when he was going to the school, not once, not twice, but a number of times. No-one told the minister when he was meeting with the head of the department. This is the story they want us to believe. Can you believe it? Who in South Australia believes that story?