CHILD PROTECTION

Mrs REDMOND (Heysen—Leader of the Opposition) (14:14): My question is again to the Premier. Can the Premier tell the house whether he was advised of the rape of a boy in a regional school in relation to which charges were laid the day before his office received the email advising of the rape of the eight year old in a western suburbs school?

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier, Minister for State Development) (14:14): I am not entirely sure which incident the honourable member is referring to but if she is talking about an incident that occurred between two children at a school then that has been drawn to my attention. I am not sure whether I was told at the time but I certainly do know that it has recently been drawn to my attention, the fact of such an incident. Can I say that for people to come into this place and try to bring forward what is an awful incident, of course—two children within a school engaging in conduct of that sort, and all the trauma and suffering associated—

Mr Pisoni: It wasn't two children.

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: If that is the matter—

Mr Pisoni interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: —that you are talking about, I do not know which matter you are advancing, but there are often—

Mr Pisoni: One of them didn't want to be there, Jay.

The SPEAKER: Order!

Mr Pisoni: It's outrageous.

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Unley, order! Listen to the Premier's answer.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: If people bring into this place incidents that concern two children and make it a matter of public comment and public debate in this place, I think that is reprehensible. If you have—

Mr GARDNER: Point of order, Madam Speaker. I think the Premier is now contravening 127, imputing proper motive.

The SPEAKER: The Premier is responding to a very provocative question.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: I will bring back an answer to the house. I am aware that there have been a number of incidents, both during my tenure as a child protection minister and, indeed, as a minister for education where awful things happened between children and between adults and children. It is one of the sad parts of carrying out the duties of these functions. All too often I was briefed about awful things that happen in our community, but for people to come in here and seek to make political capital—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: —out of the fact the bad things happen in some of our institutions from time to time, I think is an outrage.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!