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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2013-07-03 Daily Xml
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CHILD PROTECTION INQUIRY

Mr MARSHALL (Norwood—Leader of the Opposition) (14:25): A supplementary.

The SPEAKER: A supplementary, if it be a supplementary.

Mr MARSHALL: If these guidelines were in place and they were understood by the department, why was it then that Mr David Waterford, on behalf of the department, sought urgent advice from the Crown Solicitor on 31 October 2012 about how suppression orders worked and whether they impacted on parents' rights to receive information, on the day after the opposition raised this issue in the house?

An honourable member: Good question.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier, Treasurer, Minister for State Development, Minister for the Public Sector, Minister for the Arts) (14:26): It is a good question. That is precisely what a public servant should do in circumstances where they are faced with a—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: —and I think one of the—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: I call the member for Unley to order and I call the Leader of the Opposition to order. Premier.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: I think there is an important point that emerges from the leader's question; that is, that's precisely what we want public servants to do if they are uncertain about the legal position. Much of what went wrong here were people making their own judgements about what the true legal position is without actually seeking legal advice.

Indeed, it is one of the findings made by Mr Debelle that there was no-one, until Mr Waterford, that actually sought independent legal advice about this matter. So, there is no criticism of Mr Waterford in this matter. In fact, he is held up as somebody that did the right thing and not the wrong thing. There are trenchant criticisms of somebody that managed the legal unit within the education department who was making judgements about what the legal position is—

An honourable member: Incorrectly.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: —incorrectly, without seeking advice. Even if one could barely excuse that, when it was raised with him by parents that he should reconsider his position, he didn't reconsider his position and maintained the erroneous view on a continuous basis. So, seeking independent advice is something that we encourage and not discourage.

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