Child Protection

Mr J.B. TEAGUE (Heysen) (17:12): My question is to the Premier. Will the review to be undertaken following the Deputy Coroner's findings from his inquest into the deaths of Adeline Rigney and her children, Amber Rigney and Korey Mitchell, consider whether any ministerial inaction at the time, including with respect to part 9 of the inquest findings, contribute to what the Premier has, in my respectful view, rightly described as these tragic, horrific murders?

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Premier) (17:13): I thank the honourable member for the question, and I congratulate him on his re-election in the seat of Heysen. Regarding the tragedies that we have seen take place in child protection at various points over the course of the last decade, we have seen a large number of reviews and inquiries. In fact, we have had nothing less than a royal commission into the performance of Child Protection and what the state can do to help prevent the sorts of tragedies that we saw occur in respect to the Rigney matter.

The essence of the Coroner's recommendations seemed to us to make a lot of sense, in that the recommendations say, 'Go back and look at other previous coronial inquiries and the royal commission and make sure that the various recommendations have been implemented,' and that is the commitment that we are undertaking. We have accepted all the recommendations of the coronial report into the Rigney matter, which of course is particularly horrific. No doubt the member has had the time to read the coronial report, being a learned individual, and it's not easy reading. It's rather confronting in parts.

We are committed to honouring our commitment to complete that review. It's an exercise that has already been undertaken. Naturally, I have been speaking to the Minister for Child Protection about it and the Chief Executive Officer of Child Protection and we will get that done as expeditiously as possible and release its findings accordingly.