Public Sector Recruitment

Ms CHAPMAN (Bragg—Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (15:08): Supplementary: the Attorney-General said in his ministerial statement that the chief executive of DPC established an immediate inquiry into recruitment processes that resulted in this employment, referring to the two persons that you have just described, and then ordered further appointments to be subject to various things. Who conducted that inquiry? Was it Mr Russell himself, or was it someone else and, if so, who was it?

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) (15:08): I will attempt to ascertain more information about that because–

Mr Gardner interjecting:

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

The Hon. J.R. RAU: If I can just assist the member for Morialta and possibly others, under the Public Sector Act the chief executive of each department is the person who hires or fires in that department and they make investigations about their staff as and when they see fit.

Dr Russell, on my understanding of things, I am advised, was the person who initiated and took responsibility for the investigations and formulated a view as to what the responses should be and then promulgated amongst his staff and all other public sector agencies a new set of rules which is to apply to everybody. If the deputy leader is not happy with that as an answer and wants to know who else in DPC Dr Russell spoke to to assist him in those matters, notwithstanding the fact that it was his inquiry in the sense that he was the initiator and the driving force in the inquiry, I am sure he would have had administrative or secretarial support. I am sure that he may have spoken to a number of people.

My understanding, however, is that Dr Russell himself was the person undertaking the inquiry. That said, I will ask Dr Russell to have a look at a copy of today's Hansard, and if my understanding of his role in the matter is mistaken I will bring further advice to the parliament as soon as I can find out.