Child Protection

Ms CHAPMAN (Bragg—Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (14:49): My question is again to the Minister for Child Protection Reform. Given that the head of the department, Mr Tony Harrison, is a former senior police officer, can't he be trusted to undertake a review, at least of the department's involvement in respect of the Hillier deaths, and to report to the parliament, via the minister, and reassure South Australia that this issue is being investigated?

The SPEAKER: The deputy leader is now debating the question. Minister.

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) (14:50): Obviously, at the risk of sounding a little bit repetitive, I have made a ministerial statement about this today, and we don't intend to change our position from that—namely, that we just want to vacate the space until the police have done their work. Perhaps I am being unfair here, but I would assume that if we had asked Mr Harrison to go off and conduct an inquiry there might be some cynical comments made about having Caesar looking into Caesar, or something along those lines, and so—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Stuart is called to order and the member for Morphett is warned for the second and final time. The deputy leader is on two warnings.

The Hon. J.R. RAU: I am satisfied that the matter is appropriately being dealt with presently, and I would just ask members opposite and some in the media who feel the need to comment on these matters to just hold their fire until they know exactly what is going on. Once we all know what the facts are in this case, we can then analyse what, if any, errors were made

We can also ask ourselves, incidentally, the question as to whether or not the simplistic cause-and-effect type arguments which we get sometimes have any place in these complex situations. It could be said of the person who is involved in a car accident this afternoon that, had they not gotten up in the morning, had they caught a bus—

Mr GARDNER: Point of order by way of allegory: the minister is now debating.

The SPEAKER: No, the minister is perhaps being desultory, but he is not debating.

The Hon. J.R. RAU: Thank you. So that we don't—

Mr Williams: He's not providing information either.

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

The Hon. J.R. RAU: Because I have tried to explain it several times, I am now reducing it to more simple propositions to assist members opposite in understanding what I am saying, which is: we need to understand the facts before we can go off and have an intelligent conversation about what factors, if any, were responsible for this, and how, if at all—and I emphasise 'if at all'—any human action by anybody at any time might have actually had the effect of preventing these events. That turns on what these events are, whether they were foreseeable (wholly or in part) and, if so, by whom. So, let's wait and find out what the facts are.