CHILD PROTECTION INQUIRY

Mr MARSHALL (Norwood—Leader of the Opposition) (14:39): My question is to the Premier. Does the Premier now accept Mr Debelle's findings regarding his position, that his 'attempt to defend his chief of staff and ministerial advisers is inadequate and misses the point'?

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier, Treasurer, Minister for State Development, Minister for the Public Sector, Minister for the Arts) (14:40): Yes, I do accept that observation. I also accept the other element of Mr Debelle's observation; that is, that my chief of staff was entitled to assume that the matter was being appropriately handled by the agency because of the nature of the communication.

The communication demonstrated a number of things: that somebody was being arrested and removed from the school, that letters were going home to parents and that parents were going to be informed, and the advice was that it should be left to people on the ground in the local area to handle the matter. It is also worth pointing out that Mr Debelle found that, even had the email been passed on to me, I would have been entitled to assume those same things, and he was fortified in that view because of the fact that there were not—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: These are the findings of Mr Debelle. You have asked me whether I accept them and I accept all of them. The additional findings are that because of the lack of follow-up emails or briefings or briefings even when I attended that very school for other purposes, that would demonstrate that we were entitled to assume that matters were being handled appropriately. So, if one wants to point to the findings of Mr Debelle one has to adopt all of his findings, and he made all of those findings.