Child Protection

Ms SANDERSON (Adelaide) (15:21): A supplementary: given the huge jump in the number of cases that are now being reported—I believe you said from 185 to 435—can the minister assure the house that the children prior to this financial period are safe and that they have not slipped through the cracks and we are not going to have another Chloe Valentine incident?

The Hon. S.E. CLOSE (Port Adelaide—Minister for Education and Child Development, Minister for the Public Sector) (15:21): I could simply answer no, because no minister could say, looking before I was even involved, that there were children who were not looked at who may—

Ms Chapman interjecting:

The Hon. S.E. CLOSE: —subsequently come into the child protection system, so I think that is constructed as a trap, which I guess is what one should expect in question time rather than a serious question.

Mr Marshall interjecting:

The Hon. S.E. CLOSE: But the truth of the matter is that we are seeing an escalation of the number of assessments—

The SPEAKER: The leader and the deputy leader are both on their final warning.

The Hon. S.E. CLOSE: Nonetheless, we are seeing an increase in the assessment testing and treatment orders that are being sought and granted, and I imagine that that is both through a change in approach and attitude within Families SA but also, far more worryingly, an increase in the use of drugs that are causing people to become poorer parents. I think we are all aware of the particular issue of the scourge of ice and the consequences that has for people's behaviour and presumably treatment of their children, so that would be a reasonable explanation for the increase and the escalation in the number of orders that are being sought.