Ministerial Statement

CHILD PROTECTION INQUIRY

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier, Treasurer, Minister for State Development, Minister for the Public Sector, Minister for the Arts) (14:04): I seek leave to make a ministerial statement.

Leave granted.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: On Monday, 1 July, I released the report of the Independent Education Inquiry, an inquiry with the full powers of a royal commission conducted by former Supreme Court justice the Hon. Bruce Debelle. The enquiry deals with an incident in a metropolitan school in 2010 where a man was arrested for a sexual offence against a child in out-of-school-hours care. The man was arrested by police and removed from his employment at the school. He was charged, convicted and gaoled.

However, parents of other children at the school were not informed about this matter, despite repeated inquiries by members of the school governing council of the Department for Education and Child Development about whether parents could be informed. In 2012, questions were raised with the government about this matter and, within 24 hours of it becoming apparent that the government was receiving inconsistent advice about this incident from the department, the government initiated the inquiry.

The inquiry looked into the circumstances of the failure to inform parents and considered other cases which raised the question of informing parents about matters of this sort. I received the report of the inquiry on Thursday 27 June 2013. The report was considered by cabinet on Monday, where all 43 of the inquiry's recommendations were accepted in principle.

The royal commissioner finds the failure to inform the parents in the school community occurred because of failings by the department, in particular the repeated incorrect assumption about the legal position. He also makes observations about the way in which other matters have been handled. Since receiving this report, I have met a number of parents from the school and, together with the education minister, have discussed the key findings. I have also spoken to the staff of the school, representatives of the governing council and representatives of previous governing councils. I have expressed my personal apology to them for the failure to notify parents following the arrest of a person charged with a sexual offence at this school.

I also expressed my particular apology to the governing council of the school, which was frustrated by the department in their attempts to ensure that parents received this important information. I have acknowledged the mistakes made, I accept responsibility for what has occurred, and I pledge the government's support for measures to ensure that these things do not happen again.

In broad terms, the royal commissioner acknowledges that a range of improvements have been made to the way these matters are now handled. The report's 43 specific recommendations the government accepts in principle, and will begin work on implementing these immediately. Some of these recommendations have already been implemented and others are well advanced in their implementation.

For example, today, the Attorney-General announced a series of changes to the Child Sex Offenders Registration Act 2006, which includes addressing the recommendation in the report which gives the South Australian police the power to obtain information about the employment of a person who is charged with a child sex offence and to notify the employer, or any prospective employer, of the charge. The report also makes a number of observations about other matters, such as other arrests and child-on-child sexual assaults. We take these matters seriously, and I have referred them to the inter-agency task for further advice, which is meeting today.

Yesterday, the Minister for Education and Child Development has also announced that the department will be the subject of an independent review to be undertaken by former chief executive of the Victorian education department, Mr Peter Allen. The review will:

consider relevant findings and recommendations of the Debelle inquiry about the structure, operation and culture of DECD;

recommend organisational changes that will help to prevent systemic failings in future; and

recommend appropriate action in relation to departmental matters referred to by Mr Debelle but not formally investigated as part of the Debelle inquiry.

This review will seek to address the systemic issues that Mr Debelle identified within the department. The report also raises concerns about the performance of a number of Department for Education and Child Development staff. As the Public Sector Act outlines, chief executives are responsible for the management of individual employees.

The chief executive of the department has informed me that he has undertaken immediate steps to review the report for the purposes of determining whether disciplinary proceedings should be brought against those in the department who have not met the standards expected of them. These matters are being handled by Mr Bartley, who has advised me that he intends to deal with them as a matter urgency.

I would like to thank Mr Bruce Debelle for his work in conducting this inquiry. Over five months, Mr Debelle heard evidence from 98 witnesses and received a substantial amount of documentation to assist him in conducting his inquiry. He has produced a thorough but easily readable report, which has been recognised by parents I have met within the last few days.

Above all, I also want to thank all of those parents for the constructive way in which they have engaged with the inquiry and for the courage they and their children have demonstrated in dealing with these issues. Parents should be assured that our schools treat the safety of their children extremely seriously. The changes that have already been implemented to ensure that these events are not repeated and the seriousness with which we are dealing with the royal commissioner's recommendations should provide parents an additional level of assurance. I now table the report for the information of the house.