Debelle Protocols

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN (15:11): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking a question of the Minister for Human Services regarding disability.

Leave granted.

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN: The arrest of a Department of Human Services employee for sexual offences was first reported by multiple media outlets on 11 August this year. The alleged offender was yesterday named in public and appeared in court charged with sexual intercourse without consent and other offences.

Media reports of the past month state that the minister's department 'notified police of the alleged offences' and 'people receiving support, their families and guardians are being notified'. When asked about notification protocols yesterday, the minister said:

I don't have those exact details in relation to what the Debelle protocols are, but my department is fully aware of those and uses them.

My questions to the minister are: what are the notification protocols, and if you don't know how can you be sure that the department has followed them? How have the protocols been adjusted for adults in disability care, rather than children in schools? How have the protocols been adjusted to deal with changes to the law that allow sex offenders to be named after their first court appearance rather than being committed for trial?

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK (Minister for Human Services) (15:12): I thank the honourable member for her question on this matter, which is the subject of quite some distress for people within the services, their families and guardians, staff of the services and, indeed, the entire department.

In relation to the Debelle protocols, they have been modified. They are something that were brought into existence and have been promulgated, if you like, through the education department in response to those matters. They have been modified for the Department of Human Services, particularly in relation to people with disabilities. My understanding is that they exist so that, firstly, for people who may be impacted by a sexual assault or something of that nature, guardians, family and so forth are made aware of it, and also to encourage anybody who may have had some experience or some information to be supported to come forward.

In relation to how the department has contacted families, it has a notification chain in terms of the people who are most likely to be impacted. They have advised me that they have contacted all the people who are likely to be impacted across the full service. Within a school system I think it's possibly easier to describe what might take place in that regard if there's a sexual assault of an individual: then the families would have a face-to-face meeting. Clearly, when you have a large number of families in the schools, that goes through to a letter system.

So it is sensitively managed in terms of face-to-face meetings, telephone calls and emails or letters, as may be required. But my department has assured me that they have been in contact with everybody across the service.

The PRESIDENT: Supplementary question, the Deputy Leader of the Opposition.