Public Sector Recruitment

Ms CHAPMAN (Bragg—Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (15:06): Is anyone inquiring into the recruitment of the two persons who have now been dismissed?

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) (15:06): Yes, there was an investigation of that matter. The matter, in fact, was investigated upon the initiative of members of the Department of the Premier and Cabinet, and for reasons I have explained I am not going to go into the particulars of those matters. If my recollection is correct, I had a chronology of dates contained in my ministerial statement.

The chief executive dealt fairly or very promptly with those matters and, if I remember correctly, in my ministerial statement I indicated that there was a particular day in September as a point in time at which the question about the conduct and competence of the individual concerned was initially raised. Within a few days of that, there had been various inquiries and, if I'm not mistaken, my statement indicated that on a particular day—and again, I'm doing this from memory—18 September, the chief executive took action under a particular provision of the Public Sector Act and dismissed the individual concerned. The compass, from identification of the issue to having disposed of the matter pursuant to the provisions of the Public Sector Act, is a matter of something in the order of a week or 10 days.