Meningococcal Disease

Ms STINSON (Badcoe) (15:19): My question is to the Minister for Child Protection. What action did the minister or her department take to ensure the ongoing safety of young people, staff and anyone else in contact with young people in state care who are suffering meningococcal?

The Hon. R. SANDERSON (Adelaide—Minister for Child Protection) (15:19): That's a very broad question. Of course, I have sought—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. R. SANDERSON: Bearing in mind there have been 16 years of a Labor government that we know has monumentally failed in our child protection system, coming into this department—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. R. SANDERSON: —there have been many things that have needed addressing. We know one of the issues that was raised constantly with foster carers was the lack of a Blue Book, the lack of their vaccinations for children, children coming into care. The former government didn't have a policy around standardising their Medicare cards, their Blue Books of vaccinations. We have children that we don't know all their backgrounds, so vaccinations are very important.

Dr CLOSE: Point of order, sir: relevance.

The SPEAKER: A point of order on the point of order?

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: Point of order, sir.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Sorry, I can't hear the Minister for Education because of the member for Hurtle Vale and the Deputy Premier.

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: Point of order, sir: the member for Badcoe asked a question about the actions taken by the minister and her department—

The SPEAKER: What's the point of order?

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: That is exactly what she's doing, and that was a bogus point of order.

The SPEAKER: I have the point of order. This is chewing up the clock. I have the point of order; I have the question. I have allowed the minister some preamble but I would expect her to keep to the substance of the question pretty quickly. Thank you, minister.

The Hon. R. SANDERSON: Of course, the health and wellbeing of my staff and children under my guardianship are incredibly important to me, and as such I have sought to meet with as many staff and as many children, despite being attacked for it. Apparently, I'm not supposed to meet children under my care.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. R. SANDERSON: As I have explained, under the former Labor government, the Blue Books and the Medicare cards were not always available or sought for children.

The Hon. V.A. Chapman interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The Deputy Premier is warned.

Mr Malinauskas interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Leader!

The Hon. R. SANDERSON: We are fixing this for children coming into our care, but the children already in care, the information is as a result of the former government. We are fixing that and I have had briefings on the vaccination programs for our children. As we know, under the Labor government there was no vaccination program for meningococcal. The meningococcal program for the vaccination B is coming into effect on 1 February for teenagers next year. I have met with my department and all our teenagers who are eligible will certainly be participating in that program.