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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Second Session (51-2)
2008-04-08 Daily Xml
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CHILDREN IN STATE CARE INQUIRY

Ms CHAPMAN (Bragg—Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (15:04): My question is to the Minister for Families and Communities. Why has the government not agreed to immediately investigate child abuse in the state's north and other Aboriginal communities following Commissioner Mullighan's statements that the abuse extends beyond the APY lands?

When the Children in State Care Commission of Inquiry was amended last year to include the APY lands, the opposition urged the government to widen the terms of reference of the inquiry to include other Aboriginal communities and not to limit the investigation to the APY lands. The government did not do so and, although Commissioner Mullighan has not yet released his report on the APY lands, he said in the report tabled last week about children in state care that further investigation was needed of these APY lands and that it should be extended to the other areas.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Minister for Families and Communities, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation, Minister for Housing, Minister for Ageing, Minister for Disability, Minister Assisting the Premier in Cabinet Business and Public Sector Management) (15:05): One of the valuable parts of the approach that we took with the Mullighan inquiry was not to wait until the conclusion of the inquiry to act on a range of his intimations. Commissioner Mullighan did not wait until the end of his inquiry to draw to our attention matters that needed to be drawn to our intention or, indeed, to the attention of the police. A range of police investigations in relation to criminal conduct involving children has been occurring in not only remote Aboriginal communities but also Aboriginal communities in some of our regional areas.

Remarkably, some of these investigations (given the difficulties associated with these matters) have led to prosecutions and convictions. That is a very substantial achievement. We are not waiting for the report be tabled; we are actively investigating allegations of abuse in those communities. We will, of course, reflect upon what further steps need to be taken in light of Commissioner Mullighan's further report, which we will receive at the end of this month.

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