Screening Checks

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN (14:34): Given that the support worker of Annie Smith was not screened until after Annie Smith's death, can the minister be sure there are not people currently working with vulnerable people who do not have a screening? Apart from the case of the support worker of Ms Annie Smith, how many people have been prosecuted for not having a screening?

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK (Minister for Human Services) (14:34): I thank the honourable member for her question. I think it bears repeating that of course the support worker who has now been charged with the manslaughter of Ann Marie Smith didn't have a screening for many, many years, which went back some time. That was something that was not picked up under the previous government. The obligation rests on the organisations—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order, on both sides!

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: There are penalties for organisations not to have their workers screened—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: —and those penalties are very serious.

The Hon. K.J. Maher interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: The honourable Leader of the Opposition is not helping the situation.

An honourable member: Chuck him out.

The PRESIDENT: And neither are members on my right. The minister has the call.

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: Of course, in some public commentary that I have seen, screenings have also been conflated with almost like a test of whether somebody is a fit and proper person. What they tell employers and the like is whether somebody has a criminal history. They are not an endorsement that somebody is the best support worker in the world. It doesn't tell you whether they have criminal intent; it is not able to predict those sorts of things. It doesn't tell you whether they are appropriately qualified of not. What it tells the screening unit, whether somebody has a screening or not, is whether they have a criminal history which has been picked up through the various criminal databases.

The PRESIDENT: Final supplementary on this one, the Hon. Ms Scriven.