Communities and Social Inclusion Department Screening Unit

Dr McFETRIDGE (Morphett) (15:10): My question is to the Minister for Communities and Social Inclusion. Can the minister tell the house whether it is the case that there are over 1,000 people waiting to be screened through the DCSI screening unit, and school bus runs are being put at risk because of the slowness of screening?

The Hon. Z.L. BETTISON (Ramsay—Minister for Communities and Social Inclusion, Minister for Social Housing, Minister for Multicultural Affairs, Minister for Ageing, Minister for Youth, Minister for Volunteers, Minister for Veterans' Affairs) (15:11): I thank the member for his question. I do think that we have a genuine interest in protecting our people, and I think that is bipartisan. We have had a dramatic increase in the number of people applying for screening, and that is something we take very seriously. Perhaps I could detail for the house what is assessed as part of a child-related employment screening clearance, which of course would be the clearance needed for a bus driver.

An application will be thoroughly assessed to determine if they pose a risk, such as the applicant's national criminal history record check; any relevant child protection information held by Families SA; any information held by the Care Concern Investigation Unit areas of DCSI or the Department for Education and Child Development; or any information reported to the DCSI screening unit by South Australia Police or a previous employer.

Where no relevant information is identified about the applicant, an employment screening clearance will be issued within 20 business days. Where any relevant information is identified, the screening unit will undertake further assessment by an assessment officer or a senior assessment officer, depending on the nature of the information. I am not able to stand here and verify the numbers that you are saying, but I can be clear about what the process is: if there are no significant issues, it's 20 business days; if there are issues identified, we have given a clear understanding that within eight weeks we would seek to either give that person a clearance or not.