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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Second Session (51-2)
2008-07-03 Daily Xml
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Ministerial Statement

CHILD PROTECTION

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) (14:03): I seek leave to make a ministerial statement.

Leave granted.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: I refer to the cases of the families in Adelaide, which have created strong public interest both here and around Australia. I remind the house that there are essentially two families at the heart of these matters although, as I said in estimates last Monday, there is interconnection between them. Matters involving the family group recently arrived from Victoria are the subject of a police investigation. Criminal charges have been laid and Youth Court proceedings are afoot. So, I am limited in what I can say about them.

There is justifiable concern as to how this family could slip through the net. Therefore, I have referred this matter to the Child Death and Serious Injury Review Committee, which is chaired by eminent lawyer and past president of the Law Society of South Australia, Deej Eszenyi.

The committee's establishment was a key recommendation of the Layton report. Ms Layton identified as one of its key purposes that it specifically determine the quality and effectiveness of interventions with abused and neglected children and their families. It has the specific mandate to identify legislative or administrative means of preventing future deaths or injuries. Significantly, the committee has the authority to compel answers, and so override confidentiality provisions which would otherwise apply to these matters.

I have asked the committee to report as soon as possible, and it will be provided with the necessary resources to do so. We need to know why the circumstances of this family group did not come to the attention of the child protection authorities earlier. I am advised that the mother attended a health service on two occasions for herself. Consistent with what I have previously stated, no child protection notification was made. I am advised that there was also contact with the local school about enrolment, but the family did not proceed with the enrolment. No child protection notification was made.

The Child Death and Serious Injury Committee is the appropriate body to review the contacts between this family and any agencies, either government or non-government. This matter has also raised the adequacy of the current arrangements between states regarding information sharing about families at risk. The current protocols between states did not require the disclosure of information to us about the child protection concerns that Victorian authorities had about the Victorian family, given that the Victorian authorities had closed their file on this family. The adequacy of these protocols is a matter that the Premier has raised for discussion at today's COAG meeting. It is also a matter the Prime Minister has raised as an issue for discussion. I am hopeful that, out of today's COAG meeting, there will be a commitment to an improved process for cooperation between jurisdictions, including the commonwealth, to ensure vulnerable families are better detected.

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