Children and Young People (Oversight and Advocacy Bodies) (Child Death and Serious Injury Review Committee) Amendment Bill

Introduction and First Reading

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Attorney-General, Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector) (16:09): Obtained leave and introduced a bill for an act to amend the Children and Young People (Oversight and Advocacy Bodies) Act 2016. Read a first time.

Second Reading

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Attorney-General, Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector) (16:10): I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

I introduce the Children and Young People (Oversight and Advocacy Bodies) (Child Death and Serious Injury Review Committee) Amendment Bill 2024. Since its establishment in 2006, the Child Death and Serious Injury Review Committee has played a vital role in the state's efforts to prevent the death of children. For the families and friends of a child who has died, their death must be incomprehensible and will have a huge impact on the rest of their lives. For the community more broadly, we cannot fully know what the family has lost or what the children may have contributed to society had they survived and had more time.

The work of the committee, through the collection of data on child deaths and serious injuries and their circumstances and causes, enables it to analyse and gain an understanding of child deaths and serious injuries across the state and trends over time. This places it in a unique position to recommend legislative or administrative means to prevent similar deaths in the future.

The tragedy of a child's death is not lessened by the nature of its cause, whether that be by illness, disease or accident or, in more recent years, some shocking cases of child deaths through acts of violence and serious neglect. In light of such cases, timely reviews of such deaths are necessary for the protection of children in this state.

To this end, the bill seeks to provide the Child Death and Serious Injury Review Committee with more flexibility as to when it can commence a review into a particular child death or serious injury by enabling the committee, where appropriate, to commence a review earlier than is currently permissible.

Provisions of the Children and Young People (Oversight and Advocacy Bodies) Act 2016 currently place limitations on the circumstances in which a review by the committee of a child's death or serious injury can commence. Subsection 37(5), in particular, provides that the committee must not review a case of child death or serious injury unless a coronial inquiry has been completed, or the State Coroner requests the committee to carry out a review, or the State Coroner indicates that there is no present intention to carry out a coronial inquiry. The practical effect of the current provisions is that it can be a significant amount of time after a child's death or serious injury before the committee can start its review, which affects the potential impact the committee may have to improve child safety.

The bill provides that the committee may commence a review into a child death or serious injury that is the subject of an ongoing coronial inquest or inquiry or criminal investigation. However, the bill includes appropriate safeguards to protect against any compromise to an investigation, inquiry or inquest by, (1) requiring that, in such a case, the committee consult with the State Coroner or the Commissioner of Police, as the case requires; (2) providing that the committee must take all reasonable steps to avoid compromising the inquest, inquiry or investigation; and (3) enabling the Coroner or the commissioner to give directions to the committee as to the things they should or should not do in the course of the review if the Coroner or the commissioner is of the opinion that such a direction is necessary to avoid compromise to an inquest, inquiry or investigation.

To support these changes the bill includes express provision for the committee, the South Australia Police and the State Coroner to share information for the purposes of determining whether to commence a review or in the carrying out of a review.

The bill includes additional provisions for the protection of information held by the committee, including providing that a person cannot be compelled to, firstly, give evidence of matters becoming known to them as a member or staff of the committee; secondly, produce a document that was prepared or made in the course of or for the purposes of a review of a case of a child death or serious injury through the work of the committee; or, thirdly, provide information that became known to them in the course of a review.

While the committee is currently an exempt agency for the purposes of the Freedom of Information Act 1991, the bill further provides that a document prepared by the committee will be an exempt document for the purposes of the act, including where it was held by or in the possession of an agency other than the committee. The bill will also expand the circumstances in which the committee should commence a review to include where a case has been referred to the committee by the minister.

I commend the bill to the chamber and seek leave to insert the explanation of clauses in Hansard without my reading it.

Leave granted.

Explanation of Clauses

Part 1—Preliminary

1—Short title

2—Commencement

These clauses are formal.

Part 2—Amendment of Children and Young People (Oversight and Advocacy Bodies) Act 2016

3—Amendment of section 37—Functions of the Committee

This clause amends section 37 of the principal Act to allow the Minister to refer a case of child death or serious injury to the Committee. This clause also amends the section to allow the Committee to, in the specified circumstances, review a case of child death or serious injury that is the subject of an ongoing inquest or inquiry under the Coroners Act 2003 or an ongoing criminal investigation. The State Coroner and the Commissioner of Police may direct that the Committee do, or refrain from doing, a particular thing in order to avoid compromise to an inquest, inquiry or investigation. If the Committee refuses or fails to comply with such a direction, that refusal or failure may be reported to the Minister.

4—Insertion of section 38A

This clause proposes to insert new section 38A:

38A—Provisions relating to information

This proposed section provides that the Committee, South Australia Police and the State Coroner may provide information to one another for the purposes of determining whether a review of a case of child death or serious injury should be carried out, or for the purposes of carrying out such a review. The regulations may prescribe requirements that apply to such information sharing. This proposed section also provides that a person cannot be compelled to give specified evidence, produce a specified document or provide specified information. This proposed section also provides that a document prepared by the Committee under the principal Act will be taken to be an exempt document for the purposes of the Freedom of Information Act 1991.

5—Amendment of section 63—Interaction with Public Sector (Data Sharing) Act 2016

This clause is technical.

Debate adjourned on motion of Hon. B.R. Hood.