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<hansard id="" tocId="" xml:lang="EN-AU" schemaVersion="1.0" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xmlns:xml="http://www.w3.org/XML/1998/namespace" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2007/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="hansard_1_0.xsd">
  <name>House of Assembly</name>
  <date date="2021-03-31" />
  <sessionName>Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)</sessionName>
  <parliamentNum>54</parliamentNum>
  <sessionNum>2</sessionNum>
  <parliamentName>Parliament of South Australia</parliamentName>
  <house>House of Assembly</house>
  <venue></venue>
  <reviewStage>published</reviewStage>
  <startPage num="4846" />
  <endPage num="5243" />
  <dateModified time="2022-08-06T14:30:00+00:00" />
  <proceeding>
    <name>Personal Explanation</name>
    <text id="202103313b46cf0ee9834c5bb0000796">
      <heading>Personal Explanation</heading>
    </text>
    <subject>
      <name>Member for Hurtle Vale, Staff Member</name>
      <text id="202103313b46cf0ee9834c5bb0000797">
        <heading>Member for Hurtle Vale, Staff Member</heading>
      </text>
      <talker role="member" id="4978" kind="speech">
        <name>Ms COOK</name>
        <house>House of Assembly</house>
        <electorate id="">Hurtle Vale</electorate>
        <startTime time="2021-03-31T15:32:59" />
        <text id="202103313b46cf0ee9834c5bb0000798">
          <timeStamp time="2021-03-31T15:32:59" />
          <by role="member" id="4978">Ms COOK (Hurtle Vale) (15:32):</by>  I seek leave to make a personal statement.</text>
        <text id="202103313b46cf0ee9834c5bb0000799">Leave granted.</text>
      </talker>
      <talker role="member" id="4978" kind="speech" continued="true">
        <name>Ms COOK</name>
        <house>House of Assembly</house>
        <page num="5212" />
        <text id="202103313b46cf0ee9834c5bb0000800">
          <by role="member" id="4978">Ms COOK:</by>  Yesterday afternoon, I was advised by the South Australian Joint Anti Child Exploitation Team (SA JACET) that one of my staff members was charged with child abuse related offences. I was shocked when learning of these charges. Naturally, my office has fully cooperated with the Australian Federal Police and South Australia Police investigation and will continue to do so.</text>
        <text id="202103313b46cf0ee9834c5bb0000801">As soon as I was made aware of these charges, I took immediate action and advised the Department of Treasury and Finance and requested that his employment be immediately terminated and that access to buildings and IT be blocked. I also advised the Labor Party, who I understand have held an emergency state executive meeting this morning and expelled this person as a member. As the matter is now before the court, I am unable to make any further comment.</text>
      </talker>
    </subject>
  </proceeding>
</hansard>