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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2011-06-09 Daily Xml
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CHILD ABUSE REPORT LINE

Ms CHAPMAN (Bragg) (15:04): I have another question for the Minister for Families and Communities. When calculating the average time for the Child Abuse Report Line—that's the wait time on this line—are the calls where the person hangs up before they get to make their report included?

The SPEAKER: Minister for Families and Communities.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Ms Chapman: Yes or no.

The SPEAKER: Order!

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! There are four minutes left of this question time; can we have some orderly conduct, please?

The Hon. J.M. RANKINE (Wright—Minister for Families and Communities, Minister for Housing, Minister for Ageing, Minister for Disability) (15:05): Madam Speaker, we have some concern around the length of time people have been waiting on the Child Abuse Report Line in peak hours. There are peak periods during the day where the volume of calls coming in increases significantly. So, we are actually working to address that. We have been looking at this for some time.

I have to say that I accept that the member for Bragg is a mother and a grandmother, and I accept that she is as horrified as I am about the death of this little boy, as I am sure everyone in this chamber is. But, we will be looking at whether we were able to respond appropriately to the issues that were brought to our attention. Let me say: the staff in Families SA deal with the most difficult circumstances every day across South Australia. They work to support families, and they work to protect children.

This is a circumstance which is just horrendous. To contemplate someone giving a child a drug like this, that has taken his life—I think we need to be really clear; the person who was responsible for this child's death is the person who has administered that drug. Now, I am happy to get more detail for the member about the Child Abuse Report Line, but let's be really clear: we have people in this state who work in the most difficult of circumstances every day to protect children here in South Australia, and they deserve your respect.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

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