Question Time

Child Protection

Mr MARSHALL (Dunstan—Leader of the Opposition) (14:11): My question is to the Minister for Education and Child Development. Can the minister detail to the house what disciplinary action has been taken against the Families SA staff highlighted as being negligent by the Coroner in his report into the death of Chloe Valentine?

The Hon. S.E. CLOSE (Port Adelaide—Minister for Education and Child Development, Minister for the Public Sector) (14:11): As members in the house would be well aware, the management of staff is essentially the responsibility of the chief executive. I had a meeting with the chief executive this morning and at that meeting he informed me that he is undertaking a review of what may have happened in the past in terms of disciplinary procedures and the appropriateness of any activity that might occur in the future. I have no doubt that that will be publicly known in one form or another once that has been completed.

I would like to say though that, while it is appropriate to take seriously criticisms of individual workers—and I'm sure that the chief executive does and that was the nature of the discussion that we had—it is also important to recognise, and as one of the responsible ministers to be responsible for, the need for the practices and procedures and protocols of the department to be the major focus of what requires reform following the Coroner's review.

The vast majority, in fact in all of the recommendations made, there were no particular recommendations made by the Coroner pertaining to individual workers, and those are all useful guides for us in reforming the way in which we operate within Families SA and will be taken very seriously.