APY lands, truancy officers

Dr McFETRIDGE (Morphett) (16:40): My question, again, is to the Minister for Education and Child Development. Why was the state department for Education and Child Development so uncooperative with the federal government's placement of truancy officers on the APY lands (and they were; trust me)?

The Hon. J.M. RANKINE (Wright—Minister for Education and Child Development) (16:41): I do not accept the premise of the question. In fact, we have cooperated with the federal government. What we did point out to the federal government—and we were insistent upon—was that people who were engaged on the APY lands to work with school-age children had to have a criminal history clearance. We were not prepared for anyone to go in there and be engaged. That was the problem. That was the delay. Apart from that I corresponded with the federal minister. We were supportive of them providing truancy officers. It is yet to be seen whether that has any impact whatsoever but, in fact, we were not prepared for the federal government to engage anyone who had not been properly screened to work with children.