Crown Solicitor's Office

The Hon. M.C. PARNELL (15:11): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking questions of the Minister for Police, Correctional Services, Emergency Services and Road Safety, in all his ministerial capacities, in relation to outsourcing of legal work to private lawyers.

Leave granted.

The Hon. M.C. PARNELL: Members may have seen the article in InDaily today that reveals that prosecution over the 2014 death of new Royal Adelaide Hospital construction worker Jorge Castillo-Riffo was handed to private lawyers because the Crown Solicitor's Office could not put the case together quickly enough. The article suggests that outsourcing of government legal work to private practitioners rather than using the services of the Crown Solicitor's Office is widespread amongst different government departments.

As well as the abandoned SafeWork prosecution I referred to, other examples are offered, including the investigation of employees at the disgraced Oakden older persons mental health facility, which was also outsourced. There are strict controls on the ability of ministers or departments to obtain legal services from outside the Crown Solicitor's Office. These controls include obtaining the advice and certification of the Crown Solicitor that outsourcing is appropriate. My questions of the minister (I accept he will need to take some of them on notice) are:

1. Has the minister, or any of his departments, outsourced any legal work to private lawyers rather than using the Crown Solicitor's Office in the last 12 months?

2. If so, what types of cases are these and why could they not be done by the Crown Solicitor's Office?

3. Is the minister satisfied with the service that he and his departments receive from the 185 lawyers and 60 support staff employed in the Crown Solicitor's Office?

The Hon. P. MALINAUSKAS (Minister for Police, Minister for Correctional Services, Minister for Emergency Services, Minister for Road Safety) (15:13): Maybe I will start with the last part of the honourable member's question. Yes, of course, and I suspect that other ministers are in a similar position of wanting to ensure that we reasonably uphold our duties and responsibilities as ministers of the Crown by regularly seeking advice from the Crown Solicitor's Office. Certainly, that has occurred in the time that I have been minister, and I have been nothing but completely satisfied and indeed very grateful for the hard work that the Crown Solicitor's Office does, sometimes under pressing time lines. I am very grateful for the work they have done for my office and for me up until this point.

Regarding policies that exist in and around times when it is appropriate for other sources of legal providers to be doing work for the state, that is a question that pertains to the responsibilities of the Attorney-General. I am more than happy to take those questions on notice and seek an appropriate response from him in due course.