Select Committee on Statutory Child Protection and Care in South Australia

The Hon. S.G. WADE (16:59): I move:

That the report of the select committee be noted.

I would like to rise briefly on this committee report to acknowledge the work done by the members, but also to make some comments in relation to parliamentary committees. First I will overview the work of the committee.

The committee was established in 2014 and conducted two inquiries and produced two separate interim reports, one on foster care and one focused on the Children and Young People (Safety) Bill 2017. In that sense it was an unusual select committee in two respects: first of all it had more than one report, and secondly the reports were so different. I could describe the first report, the one on foster care, as a reference report and the second, in relation to the Children and Young People (Safety) Bill, a legislation report.

In that sense, the second inquiry was something of an experiment. From my observation I believe it was a valuable conversation with stakeholders and the wider community in relation to a bill that had not received adequate consultation. In that context I would like to move to the general issue of reform of parliamentary committees.

Like a number of members of this council I believe strongly in the value of parliamentary committees, particularly parliamentary committees of this council alone. I think there is a concern in the council that proliferation of select committees can, at times, undermine the quality of their work, and we do need to think about how we can be as efficient and effective as possible in managing the business of the council in relation to select committees.

My opinion, for what it is worth, is that I suggest there is value in having select committees that are what I would call, for want of a better word, 'series' select committees; in other words, select committees that set about providing more than one report. The longest-standing and I believe one of the most effective committees of this parliament is the Budget and Finance Committee. It is an ongoing select committee but it does not provide interim reports.

The statutory child protection and care committee and the Transforming Health committee are other examples of what I would call series select committees, where more than one interim report is given. With Transforming Health, each of the reports were, if you like, like a reference inquiry; unlike the statutory child protection and care committee, there was no legislation element to it.

Whilst I believe that establishing series select committees is a useful way of making sure that this council can respond quickly to issues of the day, issues of the parliament or issues of the term, we do need to think about the potential risks. One is that once having a broad reference from this chamber, a series select committee may, shall we say, get a life of its own and look at matters that are not priorities for the council as a whole.

Whilst I am not suggesting that there has been abuse to this point, I think that if we are going to use select committees of an ongoing nature—obviously still within the parliament because of the nature of select committees—that go beyond one inquiry, we need to think about the issue of how we make sure the priorities of the council are reflected, not just the priorities of particular members. I know there is some interest in having select or standing committees with the opportunity for members to attend, and I think that works very effectively with the Budget and Finance Committee.

I will conclude my remarks by referring particularly to the recommendation of this final report in the context of the comments already made about parliamentary committees. The committee itself has made a recommendation that the Legislative Council should consider how to best provide ongoing monitoring of child and care reforms, and it has suggested the possibility of a standing committee with a focus on rights or of tasking the Social Development Committee.

As I said, I think there is significant interest in this council in reforming the committees of this parliament and I offer those comments as a contribution to that ongoing conversation. With those remarks, and on the understanding that there are no other members who would like to make a contribution, I would suggest to the President that he might consider putting the motion.

Motion carried.

The Hon. K.L. VINCENT: Mr President, I draw your attention to the state of the council.

A quorum having been formed: