Child Sex Offenders

The Hon. H.M. GIROLAMO (Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (14:44): I seek leave to give a brief explanation before asking questions of the Attorney-General regarding paedophiles in childcare centres.

Leave granted.

The Hon. H.M. GIROLAMO: The ABC Four Corners program and related media reports have revealed that almost 150 childcare workers across Australia have been convicted, charged or accused of sexual abuse or inappropriate conduct involving children in their care. This investigation raises serious concerns about the adequacy of current safeguarding and regulatory systems within the childcare sector, including the monitoring of working with children checks, supervision standards and enforcement of compliance obligations.

Given the national scope of these revelations, South Australian parents and families deserve clarity about how many of these incidents may relate to services operating within our state and what is being done to ensure children in South Australian care are properly protected. My questions to the Attorney-General are:

1. Of the almost 150 childcare workers identified nationally as having been convicted, charged or accused of sexual abuse or inappropriate conduct, how many are known to have worked in childcare services in South Australia?

2. How many of those cases resulted in convictions, ongoing charges or investigations within South Australia?

3. What is the government going to do to address this horrendous issue?

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Deputy Premier, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Attorney-General, Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector, Special Minister of State) (14:46): I thank the honourable member for her question. I want to say very, very clearly at the outset that we have a zero tolerance approach to those who would seek to abuse trust and to commit crimes against children. I know from attending—and I have talked about it in this place before—the Standing Council of Attorneys-General that, in terms of working with children checks and taking into account what happens in other states, we have amongst the most stringent laws anywhere in Australia for those working with children checks.

In addition to that, we have significantly increased penalties in relation to the sexual abuse of children in South Australia. In fact, we now have the very toughest laws for repeat child sex offenders in South Australia. If you are sentenced to a second term of jail as a child sex offender, you will face indefinite detention—that is, the rest of your life in jail—until you can demonstrate to a court that you are no longer a danger to society and a danger to children. Even if you can do that, you still face electronic monitoring for the rest of your life. This demonstrates an approach that says to the community that this is not something we tolerate in South Australia and as South Australians.