Child Protection

Mr MARSHALL (Dunstan—Leader of the Opposition) (14:26): My question is to the Premier. Does the Premier accept responsibility for the broken culture in the child protection system? In his previous role as the minister for child protection, the Premier stated:

There remains deep and systemic problems in our child protection, but one of the important things we have done is change the culture of the system.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier) (14:26): At the time—

Mr Tarzia interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Hartley is warned for the second and final time.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: —I made those remarks, sir, you will recall that—

Mr Tarzia interjecting:

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: —what we had been dealing with—

The SPEAKER: The member for Hartley is on the precipice.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: —was a period of substantial neglect and underinvestment in our child protection system. Indeed, I can remember vividly talking to a representative of one of the advisory bodies who said to me—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member—

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Would you like the answer?

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Unley is warned for the second and final time, and the member for Hartley can depart for the next half hour under the sessional order.

The honourable member for Hartley having withdrawn from the chamber:

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: I can recall—

An honourable member interjecting:

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Given that you've asked me about a comment that was made in 2004, I think I'm entitled to.

Mr Marshall interjecting:

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Well, you were asking about something that happened in 2004, and so what was quite important—

Mr Pisoni: You said it's your culture.

The SPEAKER: The member for Unley will depart for the remainder of question time under the sessional order.

The honourable member for Unley having withdrawn from the chamber:

The SPEAKER: The Premier.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: What I am laughing at is the foolish behaviour of the member for Unley.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Mr Speaker—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Mr Speaker, I can vividly remember a conversation with the head of one of the advisory panels who told me that—

An honourable member interjecting:

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Well, in fact, when she tried to communicate directly with the then minister in the previous Liberal government about the child protection system being—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Unless the disgraceful behaviour of members subsides, I will have to adjourn the house for disorder. Premier.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Thank you, Mr Speaker. It's important to talk about the time around 2004 when these remarks were made because that's the context. What was said to me at the time, when I took over the portfolio and spoke to people, which was around 2004, was that when they tried to tell the then minister that there was a crisis in child protection that was actually deleted from their report and they were unable to get that message to the minister.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Well, the reason why it's important is because the agency we found when we came into government was indeed—

Mr Marshall interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The leader is on two warnings, and the next person will be named.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: It was an agency that found itself in deep crisis, and we tripled the amount of resources that we put into it. Naturally enough, there was a lift in morale around that time. You don't triple the amount of resources that goes into something without there being a lift in morale. I must attribute some of the achievement there to the former minister, who I took over from immediately prior to making those remarks, the member for Ashford. So, there was a view at that time, and I think if you ask child protection workers about the time of the former minister and my time in the portfolio—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Well, the truth is this is an agency that lives in trouble. It lives in trouble because it deals with some of the most difficult issues in our society. It has to make fine judgements. If we look at those awful cases about the poor little babies that died in circumstances where Families SA were associated with these families, what they were doing is they were being actively misled by their drug-abusing parents.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Don't ask me; ask the families who remain, who are talking to me about that.

Ms Sanderson interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Adelaide is warned for the second and final time.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: The child protection workers that were engaged in those families were deceived, and they shouldn't have been. They should have been wiser, they should have made wiser judgements, and there were warning signs, and we have been the subject of appropriate criticism about that. Let's not believe—

The SPEAKER: The time for answering the question has expired. The member for Giles.