APY Lands, Child Protection

Mr MARSHALL (Dunstan—Leader of the Opposition) (14:15): Supplementary: is the minister satisfied with the APY Lands Steering Committee's oversight of this important issue?

The Hon. S.E. CLOSE (Port Adelaide—Minister for Education and Child Development, Minister for the Public Sector) (14:16): It partly depends on your standard of satisfaction. The question of whether children are as safe as I would like them to be on the APY lands—I don't think I could hand on heart say that I am. The reason for that is multiple and complex, and there are a number of agencies and individual staff located on the lands who are working extremely hard; so, too, are the Anangu and the Anangu leadership in particular.

I will never be entirely satisfied without a sense that all children are safe across all of South Australia. That sets an almost impossible bar, given that we are dealing with private homes and private individuals. But, I do not know how else to answer that question, because I think you are expecting of a task force—a steering group—a standard that requires cooperation across and into the community as well.