Child Protection

Ms CHAPMAN (Bragg—Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (14:42): My question is to the Minister for Child Protection Reform.

The Hon. T.R. Kenyon interjecting:

Ms CHAPMAN: Given the minister's statement today that, 'The full facts will need to be ascertained, including any involvement the family had with Families SA' in respect of the Hillier deaths, will he confirm whether there is any police investigation currently underway in respect of Families SA's involvement?

The SPEAKER: The member for Newland has been doing it all day. He is warned. Deputy Premier.

The Hon. J.R. RAU (Enfield—Deputy Premier, Attorney-General, Minister for Justice Reform, Minister for Planning, Minister for Industrial Relations, Minister for Child Protection Reform, Minister for the Public Sector, Minister for Consumer and Business Services, Minister for the City of Adelaide) (14:42): Yes, thank you very much, Mr Speaker. I think that the best thing I can do is attempt to quote from the words of the police commissioner himself this morning. The police commissioner was interviewed on a certain radio station this morning and he said a few things about this. The bit I would like to quote, because it is the bit that I have available to me, is that he says:

The investigation into the deaths will uncover significant information which will be passed on to the Coroner. I would like to say that, even in the best circumstances, there are going to be occasions where one agency is delivering services to a family and despite their best efforts you cannot foresee what is going to occur. This may be [may be] one of those cases where the actions of the individual who was alleged to have committed the crime was going to happen regardless of what steps were taken by any agency. We won't know. And I really don't like talking about this case now because we are right in the midst of an investigation and we've got a long way to go, but generally speaking I think the agencies that are out there are acting with the best endeavours. They want to prevent harm to children and families. Now, sometimes your best endeavours are never going to be enough.

And I think that those words from the commissioner—

Mr Pisoni interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Unley is called to order.

Ms Sanderson interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Adelaide is warned.

The Hon. J.R. RAU: —should be sufficient for the time being. I emphasise again that we are very interested in understanding exactly what happened and we are not interested in jumping to conclusions, nor are we interested in persecuting or scapegoating people or departments. We are interested in finding out the facts. The finding of the facts is something which is presently at the request of the police commissioner—

Dr McFetridge interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Morphett is warned.

The Hon. J.R. RAU: The finding of the facts is presently being requested by the police commissioner to be allowed to continue without public commentary, and we intend to provide the police with cooperation in that request.

Ms CHAPMAN: A supplementary?

The SPEAKER: Member for Light.