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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2013-07-04 Daily Xml
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CHILD PROTECTION

Mr PISONI (Unley) (14:48): My question is to the Minister for Education and Child Development. Will the minister advise when she personally was made aware of the child sex offence charges laid against an Adelaide gymnastics business operator after her office was contacted on 6 May by a concerned parent?

The Hon. J.M. RANKINE (Wright—Minister for Education and Child Development, Minister for Multicultural Affairs) (14:48): I thank the member for Unley for this question and an opportunity to outline to the house the circumstances that occurred following receipt of the email from that particular parent. My office received an email on 6 May from a mother who was concerned about a person running a gymnastics club. She had heard rumours about the operator but had not been able to get information when she approached the local police station about whether these rumours were true or not. Let me stress that this person was not an employee, volunteer or contractor of the Department of Education and Child Development, so I just want to place that—

Mr Pisoni: Aren't you the child protection minister? Child protection, is that your role?

The Hon. J.M. RANKINE: Do you want me to answer your question or do you just want to interrupt?

The CHAIR: The member for Unley is warned.

The Hon. J.M. RANKINE: I think it is important for everyone to know that this was not an employee of a government department. The mother advised that she attended a privately run gymnastics club at a private recreation centre and other parents had called her alleging that the operator was facing child sex charges. She stated that she had already approached the local police, as I said, seeking information about the matter before contacting my office. Her email ended by saying:

I understand that in your position you must get a lot of requests and complaints. Can I please ask that you simply consider this issue, pass on my concern as a resident in your district and if there is any way that you can make a change to the current system that you consider the innocence of a child important.

She was concerned that a person charged with child sex offences could continue to have access to children while on bail. My office responded to her within seven minutes of receiving her email and spoke with her that afternoon and exchanged a further two emails over the following days. The mother was provided with information, and my office asked her to contact us with any new information that came to light. No further contact was received from the mother. We had no details about either possible charges or bail conditions. As I said, this was not an employee of my department. I did, however, seek advice from my department, including whether the recreation centre and gymnastics club had lodged Child Safe Environment statements, in accordance with the Child Protection Act.

After receiving advice from my department, I asked my chief executive to raise this matter with the interagency task force, which includes an assistant commissioner of police and the Crown Solicitor, and I specifically asked about bail conditions. We had become aware that bail conditions did not preclude the person being in the presence of children. They did require that children aged under 17 must be accompanied by an adult when around this person and that he could not make physical contact with a child under 17.

Upon receiving the interagency task force advice, I corresponded with both the Minister for Police and the Attorney-General seeking advice about bail conditions and their enforcement. During this time, the Attorney-General was working on changes to legislation, which were announced yesterday. I commend him on this work, and I assume the opposition will support the proposal wholeheartedly. I understand that this bill includes changes to automatic bail conditions to prevent people working with children while having been charged with sexual offences against children.

The SPEAKER: Minister, is that before the house now? No, it is not before the house. In any case, your time has expired. The member for Unley.

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