CHILD PROTECTION

Mr PISONI (Unley) (14:54): My question is to Minister for Education and Child Development. Has the minister sought guarantees that there are no other instances where employment screening processes for education department staff have failed, allowing sex offenders to work with children?

The Hon. J.M. RANKINE (Wright—Minister for Education and Child Development, Minister for Multicultural Affairs) (14:54): As I understand it, once this particular situation came to the attention of the Department for Communities and Social Inclusion an audit was undertaken of the process. I understand there were no systemic issues that were identified as part of that audit. If the member for Unley is asking me can I guarantee that there will be no situations in the future with anyone working with children, working in this department or any other department, of course I cannot give that guarantee. What I can say is that we have a very rigorous screening process. Unfortunately, it appears on this occasion what could have been done, what perhaps should have been done, may not have been done.