Child Protection

Ms SANDERSON (Adelaide) (14:50): Supplementary: given the newly introduced legislation that requires the government to take account of cumulative harm, surely each notification must be counted together and not investigated as an individual notification?

The Hon. S.E. CLOSE (Port Adelaide—Minister for Education and Child Development, Minister for the Public Sector) (14:51): I thank the member for Adelaide because she reminded me of where I was going to go next in my answer to the first question. Although at present it is the case that the notification is looked at and the family history is understood, we have through the legislation that went through this house yesterday increased the clarity about the importance of cumulative harm. I believe that that will then result in changed practice guidelines to make sure that that understanding of cumulative harm that might be at a low level, but because it's cumulative creates more damage, it will be able to be incorporated into the practices.