Child Protection

Mr MARSHALL (Dunstan—Leader of the Opposition) (14:51): My question is to the Premier. How long will it take to have a fully operational, dedicated agency for child protection in South Australia?

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier) (14:51): Certainly, we will act on that as soon as possible. This is the first work—

Mr Marshall: How long?

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Well, as soon as possible. The ambition is to have this as advanced as we can have it by the time the recommendations have been responded to. Ideally, in a perfect world, we would have a new chief executive and we would have a fully functional agency set up and established, but really that largely abides the length of recruitment time. We are undertaking an international search for a new leader for the child protection agency, the new child protection department. That will take as long as it takes to get the right person. As soon as we possibly can, I think, is the answer.