Question Time

Child Protection

Mr MARSHALL (Dunstan—Leader of the Opposition) (14:12): My question is to the Minister for Education and Child Development. Which of the 31 recommendations made by Margaret Nyland that had previously been made in the Debelle inquiry, the coronial inquest into the death of Chloe Valentine, the Mullighan inquiry into children in state care and/or the Layton review, is the government choosing to accept?

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) (14:13): There are certain things that I think by now are common knowledge, that is, that there have been a number of these reports over a period of time. Secondly, we have indicated that as a result of the most recent report from Commissioner Margaret Nyland the government is moving to work through the whole 260 recommendations—

Mr Marshall: This is what you said after the Layton report and after the Mullighan report.

The SPEAKER: The Deputy Premier has offered the opposition no provocation, so the leader is not within his rights to be interjecting and I call him to order. Deputy Premier.

The Hon. J.R. RAU: Thank you, Mr Speaker. As I was saying, we are working our way through the recommendations from Margaret Nyland. There are some 260 of them. I think at the present time we have indicated that 38, or thereabouts, are things that we feel we can move on straightaway. Some of them are legislative in nature, and the three bills that we have had in the parliament recently deal with some of those matters—I'm talking here about data sharing, I'm talking here about screening and I'm talking here about the children's commissioner.

Mr Marshall: The Nyland royal commission report sets it out.

The Hon. J.R. RAU: Yes, but if you—

Mr Marshall: So, it's hardly a response to the recommendations.

The Hon. J.R. RAU: Perhaps I can remind the Leader of the Opposition about the data sharing. The data sharing, as I explained yesterday, was legislation that we knew, as a result of talking to Commissioner Nyland—and, I must say, that occurred quite regularly; the Minister for Education and I would catch up with her and say, 'We're looking at seeing if we can actually—'

Mr Marshall: Which other ones have you acted on? That's the only one. There are 260 and all these conversations with the royal commissioner and you've made progress on one.

The SPEAKER: The leader is warned.

The Hon. J.R. RAU: We were fairly clearly of the opinion that there would be a recommendation or recommendations to the effect that there needed to be greater exchange of data between one government agency and another to help us manage risk and to help us evaluate and tailor programs designed to enhance child safety.

Once we received the actual report from Commissioner Nyland, it became evident that that sharing of data would not necessarily only be useful within the state government but it would also be useful for us, for example, if the circumstances were appropriate, to be able to share data with a government of another state or territory, or indeed the commonwealth, and maybe local government or other entities with which we were attempting to work in delivering programs for children. In light of that, there were further amendments put in in order to accommodate the specific recommendations from the commission.

Ms Chapman interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The deputy leader is called to order.

The Hon. J.R. RAU: We have made it clear that there will need to be a further piece of legislation—at least one; it may be more, but certainly one anyway—in the nature of a new child protection act which would put a new legislative framework around child protection. We have indicated that we would be hoping to bring that to the parliament before the end of this year. It is something that we acknowledge will require consultation because there are a number of groups in the community who have a very legitimate and deep interest in these matters. Margaret Nyland, in her report, warned against hasty kneejerk movements in response to her report.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. J.R. RAU: I would expect that towards the end of this year we will be in a position to provide a lot more information to the public and, of course, the opposition about the legislative changes that we think are appropriate to respond to Commissioner Nyland's report and also other changes because many of the things that are recommended in that report are not in and of themselves legislative. Many of them relate to procedures, practices, culture of agencies, training and a whole range of other things.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. J.R. RAU: We are looking at all of them and we will be seeking to provide a comprehensive response to all of them, as I said, hopefully before the end of this year.

Mr Marshall interjecting:

The SPEAKER: I call the members for Hartley and Morphett to order. I warn the deputy leader and the member for Adelaide, and I warn for the second and the final time the members for Morialta and Adelaide and the leader.