Grievance Debate

Child Protection

Ms HILDYARD (Reynell) (15:16): For many years and for many reasons, like many others in this house and in our South Australian community, I have been deeply focused on how we can collectively ensure that every South Australian child is safe, thriving in every way, developing as they should be, active, learning and engaged. I was so honoured to take on the shadow child protection portfolio and I am deeply aware of the huge responsibility that comes with it. I am steadfastly committed to working collaboratively with others towards the wellbeing of children.

What happened to the child raped by paedophile Matthew McIntyre, a child the minister and her department had responsibility to care for, made me feel utterly sick. I have no doubt that the South Australian community is also appalled and sickened that a child in residential care was raped by a 35-year-old man—that a predator had access to this child.

I am also sure that many community members are also deeply shocked that the minister claims she did not know about this incident until the perpetrator was sentenced just a week ago. Protecting children and improving their wellbeing requires compassion and empathy. It also requires a steadfast commitment to improving the lives of children, particularly those who need us most, and that commitment always has to be evidenced by action.

Those with the highest responsibility to care for children must do everything they possibly can to ensure those children are safe, protected and supported, and doing everything you can means relentlessly, methodically and regularly inquiring into the health, safety and wellbeing of those children. It means asking questions and it means answering questions. It means not assuming that nothing is happening. It means always being proactive in ensuring that you know what is happening to the children for whom you and your department care. It means always being inquisitive. It means relentlessly pursuing information.

The Minister for Child Protection has now been in this role for 2½ years. She must take responsibility for what has happened and for why she was not informed about it. Conversely, if the minister or anyone in her office or department did know, she must let this parliament and the people of South Australia know that this was the case.

I feel sickened that today we have not been enlightened as to what the minister knew, what her Chief of Staff knew, what the chief executive knew or what the deputy chief executive knew and that we could not get a straight answer to a question about what the policy is when a child is raped, when workers discover that rape and when they report that rape to the police. We cannot get an answer about what the policy is in terms of what those workers do to ensure that people higher up in the department know about that incident. I find that absolutely appalling.

Serious questions remain about what the minister, her staff and her department knew and when. Serious questions remain about what the minister, her staff and her department have specifically done, if anything, to assure our community that there are measures in place to ensure that such an appalling case never, ever happens again. It is utterly unacceptable that this predator was able to gain access to a child in state care. The minister must explain how on earth this was possible.

The minister must also explain the immediate steps that she has taken over the past week to ensure that the more than 400 children in residential care are protected from paedophiles seeking to groom them on teenage dating apps and websites. Has there been an immediate check of all children in residential care to see if they have this app or other similar apps on their phone? How are the phones and computers of children in her care monitored, when are they monitored and by whom? When were they last monitored and by whom?

Last week, the minister spoke to the media repeatedly about how terrible it is that one in four children is approached online by a predator. This, in itself, requires urgent action. It raises many questions for many parents and caregivers, questions about what they can do to block these apps and these approaches. It also raises continual questions for the minister about what she has done and what she has failed to do.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Reynell's time has expired.