Child Protection

Mr TEAGUE (Heysen—Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (14:54): My question is to the Minister for Child Protection. Are children in the care of the Department for Child Protection being sold for drugs? With your leave, sir, and that of the house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

Mr TEAGUE: On 24 March 2025, The Advertiser reported, and I quote:

A meth-head caught…by police has been lashed by a judge for trying to get sex from a 15-year-old girl under state care in exchange for Xanax.

The offender has previously pleaded guilty to 10 different child exploitation offences, including dissemination, possession and procuring a child for sexual activity.

The Hon. K.A. HILDYARD (Reynell—Minister for Child Protection, Minister for Women and the Prevention of Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence) (14:54): Thank you to the member for his question. What I would say first of all is that disgusting paedophiles who prey on any children and young people are abhorrent and deserve to be incredibly severely punished. I am really pleased that our government has a very, very strong set of legislative reform, policy reform, to deal with child sex offenders.

I am certainly not going to comment, rightly so, on any particular case, but I am glad that our government has a very strong stance on any child sex offences. I am also proud of the range of programs that the Department for Child Protection has instituted with and for young people in terms of their safety. Of course, every matter is reported to SAPOL, and the partnership between the Department for Child Protection and SAPOL is a very strong one. They work very closely and effectively.

As I said, our government has a very strong program of legislative reform in terms of child sex offences. Also, I have faith in SAPOL in terms of the actions that they take in relation to these terrible predators. Again, I am not going to comment on the circumstances of any particular case, but I know that SAPOL certainly deal very effectively with these awful types of offenders.