Child Protection

Ms CHAPMAN (Bragg—Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (14:36): My question is to the Deputy Premier. Why has the government referred the Hillier deaths and a review of the government's involvement in it to the Margaret Nyland royal commission, when yesterday he told the parliament it would be inappropriate for anyone to review and investigate this matter while the police investigation was continuing?

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) (14:37): I don't think I said that yesterday. What I was saying yesterday was that the unhelpful public utterances from various people, in particular members of the opposition, about what may or may not have taken place in this tragic circumstance were not of any value and were not in the public interest and, in the public interest, people should keep their powder dry until they had found out exactly what was going on.

Ms Chapman: Tell us the answers.

The Hon. J.R. RAU: Excuse me.

Ms Chapman: Give us some answers.

The SPEAKER: I am satiated with the deputy leader's interjections. They will cease or she will be leaving us.

The Hon. J.R. RAU: I had a fairly shrill request to provide the answers just then, and I can say that if I was in possession of a TARDIS, I would get into it, proceed forward about eight months or something and find out what the police brief says at the time of presumably a charge, but we will all have to wait for that. But in the meantime we have a royal commission going on.

The royal commission has been going on for quite a while and the royal commission has been looking at issues surrounding child safety, issues surrounding the performance of the staff at Families SA, issues about the structures, the management, the policies and pretty much everything that is going on in Families SA. So it seemed to me, without making any fuss and without having a Kath & Kim 'Look at me' moment, I would quietly pick up the telephone, have a word to the commissioner and say, 'Commissioner, we have information here about another matter which we think may or may not be of interest to you. It's up to you, but we would like you to have access to this stuff,' and it has been provided to her.

What she does with that is a matter for her. That's entirely a matter for her, but in so doing the government has not been running around drawing attention to itself. In fact, I didn't think it was necessary for me to immediately burst into the media and make the announcement that I had had a chat with Margaret on the phone. I didn't think that was necessary. We are letting the police get on with what they are doing and, inasmuch as there are records held by Families SA which might be of relevance to the royal commission, the royal commission now has access to those materials.

The idea that we should be getting yet another body or another person involved in some sort of investigation of this matter when we have the police doing their job—and I quoted yesterday from the police commissioner being asked that they please be allowed to get on with their job without people guessing or second-guessing what the situation is in this case; let the police do their job—and when we have a royal commission which is looking into issues surrounding this particular part of government's function—

Mr Marshall interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The leader is on two warnings.

The Hon. J.R. RAU: This royal commission now has access to all the relevant material. They didn't have to ask us: we offered it to them. Let them just get on with what they are doing. I don't think anybody could reasonably say a matter being in the hands simultaneously of an investigation by SAPOL and an ongoing investigation by a royal commission is an inadequate reaction or response.