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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2009-11-19 Daily Xml
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FAMILIES AND COMMUNITIES DEPARTMENT

The Hon. I.F. EVANS (Davenport) (14:40): My question is to the Minister for Families and Communities. How does the minister explain that written complaints about the Special Investigations Unit sent to both the then department chief executive, Kate Lennon, and the then manager of the Special Investigations Unit, Mr Steve Edgington, in July 2004 are now claimed not to exist when departmental records show they did exist at the time of the complaint? Is the minister concerned that, following calls for a royal commission into the Easling matter, the department is now claiming that no such documents exist?

On 15 July 2004, Mr Steve Edgington received a written complaint about the Special Investigations Unit from Connecting Foster Carers South Australia. On 16 July 2004, both Steve Edgington and Kate Lennon received written complaints about the Special Investigations Unit from both Lutheran Community Care and Create Foundation.

I put in a freedom of information request for the letters of complaint from the industry sector, as referred to in a memo by Kate Lennon on 27 July 2004, which recommended that a consultant be appointed to review the Special Investigations Unit due to the level of complaints. The FOI response was that there were no documents. When I publicly claimed, by way of a press release, that documents must exist, the department put out a statement, as follows:

Notwithstanding the Hon. Iain Evans belief that such documents exist, the Department after repeated and thorough searches in accordance with its obligations under the Freedom of Information Act has concluded no such documents exist.

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: Point of order, Mr Speaker: explanations are there to provide a short, brief explanation to a question. He is clearly providing information that would be better provided in the grievance.

The SPEAKER: Any member is free to withdraw leave. The Minister for Families and Communities.

The Hon. J.M. RANKINE (Wright—Minister for Families and Communities, Minister for Northern Suburbs, Minister for Housing, Minister for Ageing, Minister for Disability) (14:43): I thank the member for Davenport for his question. In relation to his FOI and his claim that letters containing allegations were sent to the department, I have asked the chief executive officer to ascertain, now that we have been given the names of three organisations he claims made allegations against the Special Investigations Unit, whether or not the department can now locate them. I have asked, if they do have them, whether a mistake was made in the process in not locating them or whether they were not captured under FOI because the actual content did not reflect the scope of the freedom of information application.

The Hon. A. Koutsantonis interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, the minister for corrections!

The Hon. J.M. RANKINE: What I mean by that is: did they contain actual allegations or were they letters containing concerns? I have not seen the letters, I have not read the letters, so I do not know what they contain—

Ms Chapman interjecting:

The Hon. J.M. RANKINE: The FOI didn't ask for letters from specific organisations—

The Hon. I.F. Evans: It asked for the letter referred to in the memo to Kate Lennon.

The SPEAKER: Order, the member for Davenport!

The Hon. J.M. RANKINE: I do not know what the chief executive officer before the last chief executive officer before that meant, because she does not detail that, as I understand it, in her minute. What I have asked the chief executive officer to do is to have a look at whether a mistake was made, whether those documents exist within the department or whether they just did not fall within the scope, and as soon as I have an answer to that I will advise the member for Davenport.

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