Child Protection

Mr MARSHALL (Dunstan—Leader of the Opposition) (14:17): A supplementary, sir. Is the minister confirming to the house that she sought no legal advice as to whether or not she can give any details regarding the investigation subsequent to the police commissioner telling people that the investigation has actually taken place?

The Hon. J.M. RANKINE (Wright—Minister for Education and Child Development) (14:17): What we received was a statement from the police commissioner of South Australia basically confirming—

Mr Marshall: Before he went public with it himself.

The SPEAKER: The leader is warned for the second and final time.

The Hon. J.M. RANKINE: He has made the confirmation that he made yesterday and has effectively said that no other matters are to be released at this time and that he determines what information and when that will be released. So whether I have received legal advice or not is quite irrelevant.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Unley is called to order!

The Hon. J.M. RANKINE: I am happy to read this to the house again. The police commissioner said, 'I determine what information to publicly release and what time.' If you want information about these circumstances—

Mr Marshall: I just want an answer to the question.

The Hon. J.M. RANKINE: If you want information about these circumstances—

The SPEAKER: No, 'If the leader wants information.'

The Hon. J.M. RANKINE: —and, of course, sir, I spoke to the leader about this particular issue on the evening of 24 July.

Mr Marshall: There are several versions.

The Hon. J.M. RANKINE: On 24 July. He has received several—

The SPEAKER: If the leader's lips move out of order again, he will be ejected from the chamber.

The Hon. J.M. RANKINE: The crux of the matter in relation to this is that we have a live investigation that South Australia Police are in charge of. We will eventually see prosecution in the courts. The Leader of the Opposition has been briefed on a number of matters; he knows the sensitivity of those matters—well, he sits there and shakes his head and that is just a nonsense.

In any case, sir, he has been briefed on a range of matters. Some matters he has not been briefed on; he may be, eventually. There are some matters that are still not in the public domain because suppression orders apply to that because this is a very sensitive investigation. We need to maintain our focus on not what interests the Leader of the Opposition and not what might grab a headline for the Leader of the Opposition but what will see a successful prosecution if this person is guilty. I am not going to say anything that is going to jeopardise—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. J.M. RANKINE: We have people in this house who may do that. I am not going to say things that will jeopardise this investigation or this prosecution, and the Commissioner of Police made that very clear yesterday. He is in charge of the release of any information.

The SPEAKER: The member for Hartley I call to order and I warn him for the first time for repeated interjection, I warn the member for Morialta for the first time and I warn the Deputy Leader for the first time. The member for Taylor.