Child Protection Systems Royal Commission

Mr MARSHALL (Dunstan—Leader of the Opposition) (14:13): My question is to the Minister for Education and Child Development. How does the minister consider suspending three employees identified in the Shannon McCoole case as representing the government's response to Nyland recommendation 144 as being completed, when they are still employed by the department?

The Hon. S.E. CLOSE (Port Adelaide—Minister for Education and Child Development, Minister for Higher Education and Skills) (14:14): It is difficult for me to talk in detail, of course, about individual employees, but the employees who have been stood aside as a result of the investigations following the Shannon McCoole case are under various forms of investigation or under some form of process. Clearly, there are industrial restrictions on at what point separation can occur, but the fact is that, while they are not working with children, that element of the decision has been taken.