Families SA Internal Audit

Mr MARSHALL (Dunstan—Leader of the Opposition) (14:23): Supplementary, sir: given that the minister sees no need whatsoever to extend the desktop audit to the other 1,500 Families SA employees, can the minister guarantee to this chamber that high concerns do not exist for any other non-residential Families SA employees here in South Australia?

The Hon. J.M. RANKINE (Wright—Minister for Education and Child Development) (14:23): Once again, the Leader of the Opposition verbals me. He makes an assertion which I don't respond to, so he takes it as given that I have accepted that.

Ms CHAPMAN: Point of order. The minister has asserted that she has been threatened by the Leader of the Opposition.

The SPEAKER: No, no.

The Hon. J.R. Rau: Verballed.

Ms CHAPMAN: Verballed—that is a threat. You should know that: you're the Attorney. I ask that she withdraw that.

The SPEAKER: I did not hear the minister say that she had been threatened. What I heard the minister say was a bit of 1970s New South Wales slang, originating with the New South Wales police force and its interviewing of accused persons. The minister asserted that she had been 'verballed' by the leader, by which I take her to mean she meant that the leader had purported that she had confessed to a matter to which she had not confessed. I rule that verballing—to accuse another member of verballing one—is in order. Minister.

The Hon. J.M. RANKINE: He has a habit of doing that, sir. What we have is a workforce that do the hardest job. They work with the most difficult families in South Australia, and here we have the Leader of the Opposition coming in here trying to use child protection as a political football.

Mr GARDNER: Point of order, sir.

The SPEAKER: And the point of order is?

Mr GARDNER: Imputing improper motive and debate.

The SPEAKER: Very fragile. I don't uphold the point of order.

Mr Gardner: Trying to use child protection as a political mechanism.

The Hon. J.M. RANKINE: Well, sir, it is obvious. I have had so many people come up to me in the last few weeks expressing exactly that view. So, it is very—

Mr Pisoni interjecting:

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

The Hon. J.M. RANKINE: The member for Unley refers to the way I do my job. Can I refer to perhaps the way the member for Unley does his job?

The SPEAKER: No, you may not.

Ms CHAPMAN: I think I heard you say, 'No, you may not,' so thank you, sir.

The Hon. J.M. RANKINE: He helped secure government for us, of course, being a shadow spokesperson challenging a fourth-term government, and he managed a swing against himself.

The SPEAKER: Could the minister return to her text?

The Hon. J.M. RANKINE: I am sorry, sir, that pretty much was my text. The deputy leader also, if you want to look at people who do a hopeless job, and you know I refer back to the kidney, that lost kidney.

Ms CHAPMAN: Point of order, Mr Speaker. This is a repeat of her defying of the direction that you have given.

The SPEAKER: I warn the Minister for Education a second and final time.

The Hon. J.M. RANKINE: They're critical and they come in here and cast aspersions on a workforce that do one of the toughest jobs in our community. They are damned if they take a child away, they are damned if they leave a child there, but every day in South Australia these people work to help protect our children.

Mr GARDNER: Point of order, sir.

The SPEAKER: And the point of order is?

Mr GARDNER: Standing order 137 clearly defines what your suggested tasks are when a minister or a member continues to defy your rulings and not to accept your authority.

The SPEAKER: Tempting though it is.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Adelaide is called to order. The deputy leader, if her lips move once more out of order, will be departing—perhaps in company with the Minister for Education. Perhaps I could arrest them and place them in the same room, but I would only do that on a motion of the house. I think the member for Morialta is being unduly fragile, given that we are having a robust exchange about the matter of child protection. If you can dish it out, you've got to be able to take it. I don't know what standing order that is, but I am applying the rule.

Mr MARSHALL: A supplementary, sir?

The SPEAKER: I am sorry, the minister has not finished.

The Hon. J.M. RANKINE: No, I haven't finished.

The SPEAKER: And another thing.

The Hon. J.M. RANKINE: And another thing.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: It was a point of order by the deputy leader.

The Hon. J.M. RANKINE: These people every day work to keep children safe, they work to support their families, they work to help hold our community together. They get very little thanks for this and, when something goes wrong, they are all berated and they are all tarred with the same brush.

There is no doubt that there are people who will do the wrong thing; sadly, we have seen this week an example of that. It's dreadful. We have seen people in Families SA do the wrong thing, we have seen people in our South Australian police force do the wrong thing. It injures everyone in those organisations, it upsets our community, but you can't tar each and every one of them with the actions of one or two people; it is completely unreasonable. These people should not be berated in this place by the Leader of the Opposition and have aspersions cast against each and every one of them for the actions of one or two people doing the wrong thing. It is a—

Mr PISONI: Point of order, sir.

The SPEAKER: Point of order, member for Unley.

Mr PISONI: Clearly, the minister is impugning improper motives.

The SPEAKER: Well, no, actually I don't think she is, and I rule against the point of order. But I would remind the minister that those police officers from Operation Mantle who have been charged are entitled to the presumption of innocence.

The Hon. J.M. RANKINE: Thank you, sir, and I absolutely agree with you, and so do the people in Families SA.