CHILD PROTECTION INQUIRY

Mr MARSHALL (Norwood—Leader of the Opposition) (14:23): My question is to the Premier. When the Premier was minister for education was he aware that there was, and I quote from the Debelle report, 'a lack of adequate knowledge as to how to act when dealing with serious matters such as sexual offending against a child at a school'?

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier, Treasurer, Minister for State Development, Minister for the Public Sector, Minister for the Arts) (14:23): I thank the honourable member for his question. One of the first things that I presided over in my role as minister for education was the publication, in about mid-2010, of a series of new guidelines for staff in relation to education and care settings, responding to children or young people who engaged in or were affected by problematic sexual behaviour.

This new policy, which was produced for the first time, I think in July 2010, was an important contribution to dealing with the question of sexual behaviour for children and young people in our education and care settings. It was the most comprehensive response that had occurred before that time. It makes clear that parents should be informed and considerations be undertaken as to how and when they should be informed, where and when they should be informed—

Mr Venning: So why weren't they?

The SPEAKER: I call the member for Schubert to order.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: —where there are questions of child sexual abuse—

Mr Venning interjecting:

The SPEAKER: I warn the member for Schubert for the first time.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: —where there are questions of abuse of children in schools. It's clear in the terms of this particular policy. It's also true, though, that Mr Debelle recommends greater guidance should be provided to schools about how to apply the principle in each case. I think one of the great benefits that has now emerged from this very comprehensive report that has been produced by Mr Debelle is a very clear and readable set of guidelines to take one through every single potential case that may arise for these matters.

But the truth is issues of this sort concerning adults are rare—thankfully, they are rare—and, so, many school leaders will only be forced to confront them perhaps once, maybe never, in their school careers. So, it is important to have these guidelines clearly laid out so that mistakes of this sort do not happen again. We have the benefit of that and we will be adopting that, so that these horrible events will not happen again.