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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2013-03-05 Daily Xml
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CHILD PROTECTION

Mr PISONI (Unley) (15:02): My question is to the Minister for Education and Child Development. Why did it take three months for her department to inform the Catholic and independent schools that the teacher who was arrested last Thursday for the rape of a 10 year old and the production of child pornography offences was being investigated for serious child protection offences when a memorandum of understanding between the sectors requires notification as soon as the education department becomes aware?

The Hon. J.M. RANKINE (Wright—Minister for Education and Child Development, Minister for Multicultural Affairs) (15:03): First and foremost, what I will do is check the assertions made by the member for Unley because—

Mr PISONI: Point of order.

The SPEAKER: I hope this is—

Mr PISONI: You cannot impute improper motives on other members of the chamber.

The SPEAKER: Strictly, member for Unley, you should go out under the sessional order, but I will give you one last warning. That was not a point of order and no improper motives were imputed to you. Incompetence may have been imputed but not improper motives. Minister.

The Hon. J.M. RANKINE: Thank you, sir. I just think it's prudent of me to check the assertions and claims being made by the member for Unley. We have heard in this place the misrepresentation of charges that have been laid against people, so I think it is—

Ms CHAPMAN: Point of order: now the minister is clearly imputing the motive and, in fact, reflecting on the member adversely on the basis—

The SPEAKER: What are the words?

Ms CHAPMAN: Clearly 'misrepresenting' to start with.

The SPEAKER: We say about each other that we are misrepresenting all the time. What is out of order is the allegation that we are misrepresenting deliberately. Has the minister finished?

The Hon. J.M. RANKINE: No, sir, I have not finished. It is only under this government that we have had protocols to inform the other school sectors about incidents that involve people who are employed in the education sector. It is under this government that child protection has been given a high priority. It is under this government that massive injections of funding have gone into child protection, in employing social workers, improving accommodation, improving outcomes for children under guardianship and passing legislation that provided greater protection for children.

I will also point out to the member for Unley that, in this particular case, I am very limited about what information I can provide, at the direct instruction of the South Australia Police. One of the things that they were very clear about in correspondence to my office was that they stipulated that no child from the school community is at risk.

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