Child Protection

Mr MARSHALL (Dunstan—Leader of the Opposition) (14:29): Supplementary, sir: how many additional carers would be needed to ensure that children in state care are not left alone with carers overnight?

The Hon. S.E. CLOSE (Port Adelaide—Minister for Education and Child Development, Minister for Higher Education and Skills) (14:29): The difficulty is that the vast majority of children are in family-based care, and they are often, therefore, alone overnight with one carer and it would be impossible for me to estimate the gap if we were to regard that as our obligation.