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

Contents

CHILD PROTECTION

Mr PISONI (Unley) (15:11): Did police interview parents at the gymnasium involved to inquire as to whether the gym instructor had been touching children?

The Hon. J.R. RAU (Enfield—Deputy Premier, Attorney-General, Minister for Planning, Minister for Industrial Relations, Minister for Business Services and Consumers) (15:12): I am not sure I got the full detail of that question. Could I please have that again?

Mr PISONI: The question was, Attorney-General: did the police interview parents at the gymnasium to inquire as to whether the gym instructor, who was on bail, was touching children or had been touching children or whether there were witnesses to him touching children?

The Hon. J.R. RAU: I have no information as to the precise methods by which the police conducted whatever inquiries they conducted in relation to this matter. What I can say and what I have been advised is that the police have made covert visits. Whether they spoke to individuals or not—

Mr Pisoni interjecting:

The Hon. J.R. RAU: I am not sure—

The SPEAKER: The member for Unley is warned for the second and the final time.

The Hon. J.R. RAU: I am not sure of exactly the methods, but I am confident that South Australia Police are perfectly capable of conducting an investigation or an inquiry and they have a great deal of experience at it. I have no reason to believe that any of the inquiries they made—including the fact of taking the unusual step of having a human source secreted in the actual establishment, giving them, in effect, real-time ongoing information about what was going on there—were inadequate ways for the police to conduct an investigation about the matter.