Child Protection, Rice Inquiry

The Hon. T.T. NGO (15:15): My question is to the Minister for Human Services regarding child safety. Minister, following the Rice report, why are the most serious child protection incidents now to be reported to the Department of the Premier and Cabinet and not to your agency, DHS, which claims to have lead responsibility for the safety and wellbeing of children?

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK (Minister for Human Services) (15:16): Mr President, this is just a really bizarre line of questioning from the Labor Party. I have two agencies: the South Australian Housing Authority and the Department of Human Services. They both have critical incident reporting for their clients. The matter of the Department for Child Protection is a matter for that agency. As the Premier, the minister and the Attorney-General have outlined, particular responses have been taken at a government level to ensure that the critical incident reporting for that particular department is improved. I would just like to reiterate to the Labor Party—

The Hon. K.J. Maher interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: The Leader of the Opposition is out of order.

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: —that the child and family support system which resides within the Department of Human Services refers to the pre-statutory, if I can use that term, children and families.

The Hon. K.J. Maher interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: For the pre-statutory families, we are trying to support those families so that they are nurturing and safe environments for those families, with the wish that, as long as they are safe, those children can remain within that family.