CHILD PROTECTION

Mr MARSHALL (Norwood—Leader of the Opposition) (14:54): My supplementary is to the Minister for Education and Child Development. Can the minister please clarify the issue regarding the failure of the school to comply with the mandatory reporting obligations in relation to this matter?

The Hon. J.M. RANKINE (Wright—Minister for Education and Child Development, Minister for Multicultural Affairs) (14:54): My understanding is that the school assessed this as not requiring a mandatory report. It was low level, it wasn't reported to police, it wasn't reported to CARL and it certainly wasn't reported as a critical incident to the education department.

I understand now that there is some conflict of advice between what reports the department has, what records the department has and what the family are now saying has occurred. As a result of that, I have asked the chief executive officer of the department to contact the family and have a discussion with them so we can work through those issues.