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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2012-10-30 Daily Xml
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Grievance Debate

CHILD PROTECTION

Mr PISONI (Unley) (15:57): At issue today is the failure in procedure and duty of care to children and their families at Department for Education sites by this government and by the department choosing not to notify parents of paedophile activity by DECD employee Mark Harvey, the former director of the western suburbs primary out of school hours care. Today we heard from the Minister for Education that it is government policy not to tell parents that an employee of the education department has raped a child in their school. That is what we heard today from this minister. We heard today from the minister that it is department policy not to tell parents that that has happened.

In addition to his work as the director for the after school hours care, Mark Harvey was employed on a temporary basis as an SSO between 11 October 2010 and 2 December 2010, dealing with special needs students. He was arrested on 2 November 2010, so he remained on the department payroll on a temporary basis for another month after he was arrested for the rape of a primary school child. The department failed to advise parents at the school that Mark Harvey was arrested while he was employed as the director of the out of school hours care. He was arrested, of course, for child sex offences. They further failed to notify school parents when Mr Harvey was subsequently convicted in February of this year, and he is now serving six years for the rape of a student at that school.

This failure has jeopardised timely and appropriate counselling for potentially affected families and children and other abused students—potentially 150 students who are using this out of school hours care facility. It has been further alleged by parents active in the school community that the department had misled the school's governing council to keep this issue quiet. How many more children have been harmed by this government policy of not telling parents when they have been under the care of a paedophile in their school?

What has the recommendation of Child Protection Services been? Why has the community not been officially notified and workshops organised for the potential effect on these families? Why have there not been any further investigations? Where is the consistency in policy in approach to paedophiles with access to children through DECS sites? We heard in question time that, in one school, parents were told, and, in another school, parents were not told. For some reason, it appears that there is no consistent policy with the department and the minister's office in regard to dealing with children that are in the care of paedophiles in our schools.

The government's departmental reorganisation, combining child protection and education does not appear to be working for abuse victims at our DECS schools. At least one other family, having since found out about Mr Harvey's convictions, through means other than the department or school, quizzed their children, only to discover that they too had been abused by Mr Harvey. These children have since been interviewed by SAPOL's Child Protection Unit, and further charges, I understand, are pending.

The response from the assistant regional director in questioning from a concerned parent was dismissive and threatening. This is the email sent to a parent who dared to challenge the department's attitude to the parents at this western suburbs school:

I refer to your email to the...Primary School Governing Council [who] has referred your email to [me] for consideration.

I note your comments concerning the media article that appeared online in Adelaidenow, and your extrapolation of that set of events to those involving Mr Mark Harvey. You allege the department has failed in its duty of care to its students and that we have failed in providing appropriate counselling to those students.

We reject your allegations and note any parent who believes this is the case can bring appropriate action against the department by utilising the relevant grievance procedures or if they are inclined including bringing litigation against the department for negligence...

So, in other words, a parent raises the concern about the department's handling of this situation, and the department's response is: 'Sue me'; 'Sue me' is what the department says to the parents. This was signed by the Assistant Regional Director, Greg Petherick. It is an absolute disgrace, the way that this government and this minister have handled this incident.

We are concerned about the number of other students that have been interfered with by Mr Mark Harvey, and parents do not even have the tools to manage that situation by being given the knowledge by the department or the minister.

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