Child Protection Screening

Mr GARDNER (Morialta) (15:13): My question is to the Minister for Education and Child Development. Can the minister advise the house whether parents are required to apply for a police check in order to coach a sporting team at a public school?

The Hon. S.E. CLOSE (Port Adelaide—Minister for Education and Child Development, Minister for Higher Education and Skills) (15:13): My recollection of the change to the rules that we put in place in order to normalise the arrangements between parents being involved in activities that their kids are involved in, in any case, was that we did not require a police check or a working with children screening clearance for interactions with the students of their schools that would normally be interactions that their kids would be a part of. That includes going along and reading with children and undertaking sporting activities.

What we have continued to do, however, is make sure that if students are in any sense staying overnight with parents (for example, going away on camps with schools or any kind of hosting of students) then they would continue to require that. That is consistent not only with the legislation but also with the recommendations that came out from the federal royal commission, and this has helped bring us into line with what occurs interstate.