Child Protection

Ms SANDERSON (Adelaide) (14:57): My question is to the Minister for Education and Child Development. I refer to the minister's previous answer that the Chloe Valentine case has already been referred to the Child Death and Serious Injury Review Committee. Given that this committee is yet to consider deaths that occurred years ago, how long will the family of Chloe Valentine have to wait to get an answer?

The Hon. J.M. RANKINE (Wright—Minister for Education and Child Development) (14:57): Can I congratulate the member for Adelaide for being made parliamentary secretary for child protection. We were very pleased to be able to provide her with an hour-long briefing, I think, in relation to child protection a week or so ago. I do understand that no questions were raised at that time about the Chloe Valentine case so it is very nice—

Mr Gardner interjecting:

The Hon. J.M. RANKINE: She can confirm that. No queries about the Chloe Valentine case.

Mr Gardner interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Morialta is warned a first time.

The Hon. J.M. RANKINE: I would be very keen to have the detail of the case she is referring to that has not been reviewed for years, so on that basis I would be happy to have that, but what needs to happen, and what perhaps the member for Adelaide doesn't understand (and we are happy to give her another briefing), is that when the death of a child is then the subject of a police investigation and court proceedings it is a requirement that the committee not undertake a simultaneous investigation while those processes are underway, so they can only undertake their inquiry once those events are complete.

What we have in the Chloe Valentine case, of course, is that the court case is complete. What we will be waiting on is whether the Coroner undertakes an inquest into that death. If the Coroner doesn't, the inquiry can commence. If the Coroner does, it will wait until the Coroner has done his work.