Child Protection

Mr TEAGUE (Heysen—Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (14:56): My question again is to the Minister for Child Protection. When did the minister last speak with Belinda Valentine? With your leave, sir, and that of the house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

Mr TEAGUE: Belinda Valentine has today written to all members of parliament criticising consultation processes undertaken by the government. She said, and I quote:

If you are…going to ask people with lived experience what they think, really listen, don't just tick a box and move on. I engaged in the recent consultation at first but I stopped when it became clear it was another box-ticking exercise.

The Hon. K.A. HILDYARD (Reynell—Minister for Child Protection, Minister for Women and the Prevention of Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence) (14:57): I have a great deal of respect for Belinda Valentine. She and I have had a number of conversations about reform in the child protection and family support system and I appreciate her views and I appreciate the views of all of that diverse group of stakeholders that I just spoke about.

One of the things I have done since coming to government is to establish for the very first time ever in South Australia—and many other jurisdictions are looking with interest at what we are doing here in this space—a Direct Experience Group. That means that I hear directly from families who have been involved in the child protection and family support system.

The group is supported by the incredible people at the Reily Foundation who also made submissions about the content of the legislation. They have made submissions taking account of people with direct experience of the child protection and family support system. As I have with all of the submissions, I have looked carefully at those.

I want to commend the bravery of Belinda and those people on the Direct Experience Group and, indeed, many others with that direct experience who choose to speak up and advocate with courage, sometimes after going through the most heartbreaking circumstances that we can imagine. At the most recent Child Protection and Family Support Symposium, to which I extended an invitation to the shadow minister for the second year in a row—unfortunately, he couldn't be there for that discussion—for the very first time a really special thing happened, and that was that carer families and birth families actually spoke together on a panel.

The significance of that is that anything that happens in the child protection and family support system often encompasses a situation where there is heartbreak for one family and happiness for another. There is always this balance and difficult situations to navigate—situations that we always navigate with children and young people at the centre of our hearts and minds.

Carer families and birth families actually spoke on this panel together, and they spoke with such courage again about how important it was for them to hear from one another, for them to listen to each of their perspectives as we go forward towards reform. I think about them when I say this: I am committed to doing exactly that. I will listen, I have been listening, I will continue to listen to that broad spectrum of views about child protection and family support. I have finished.

Mr TEAGUE: There are 40 seconds to go. It's a straightforward question: when did the minister last speak with Belinda Valentine? The minister needs to stop debating this to answer the question.

The SPEAKER: The minister says that she has finished her answer.