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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2013-07-25 Daily Xml
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Grievance Debate

CHILD PROTECTION INQUIRY

The Hon. J.M. RANKINE (Wright—Minister for Education and Child Development, Minister for Multicultural Affairs) (15:11): The member for Unley today gave a guarantee on radio that he will go to police if he gets any sensitive information immediately, and I quote, 'I always do, I always do.' Let me say that is not so and, quite frankly, he's got form.

This is the second occasion he has held information in order to grab a headline. He did not do it this time and he has not done it when he stood in front of the cameras on 5 May this year, waving documents around—and we know how much he likes documents—feigning concern again.

On that occasion, he was alleging inaction in relation to a person who was not an employee of the education department, nor a contractor, nor a volunteer. In the two and a half months that he had information, he had not contacted my office, he had not contacted the department, he never sought any information—

Mr Pisoni: He was arrested going to court, you silly woman!

The Hon. J.M. RANKINE: —from the agency—

Mr Pisoni: He was arrested going to court.

The SPEAKER: The member—

The Hon. J.M. RANKINE: He never sought—

The SPEAKER: The minister will be seated. The member for Unley is warned for the second time, and the member for Unley will withdraw the expression 'you silly woman'.

Mr PISONI: I withdraw it, sir.

The SPEAKER: Minister.

The Hon. J.M. RANKINE: Thank you, sir.

Mr Pisoni: Very wise, Mr Speaker.

The Hon. J.M. RANKINE: Yes, sometimes we need to take our own advice, sir. He never sought any information from the agency to ensure that children were safe. If he had done so, we could have advised him that this matter had been reviewed by the inter-agency task force and that parents had been written to and some had actually been visited at home.

What he was doing was waiting two and a half months. He claimed he was firming up details. He could not even get the person's job title right despite it being freely available on the internet, and he publicly implicated a different person—similar name, different job. Lo and behold, two days before his appearance—

Mr Pisoni: Say it outside the chamber—you won't, will you?

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

The Hon. J.M. RANKINE: Lo and behold, two days before this person's appearance in court, the headline hunter was out in front of the education building demanding to know whether parents had been informed. Well the answer was yes, two months earlier. The truth is, he knew this. So you have to ask yourself: what was his motive?

In complete contrast, a mother of an alleged victim provided written advice to my office alleging that the member for Unley had breached her family's privacy and distributed her real name and phone number to media outlets. The Leader of the Opposition has been provided with a copy. He knows the member for Unley has twice sat on information that should have been passed on.

While the member for Unley was waiting for his moment in the sun, we were responding positively to the request I received from a parent concerned about the gymnastics club operator. The request was, and I quote:

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 you can make a change to the current system.

That is exactly what we did. The difference here is the member for Unley sat on an email for almost 18 days. Why did he not go to the police? He said, because he thought the parent was doing that. The email I received from the parent indicated they had already gone to the police. The police knew he had been charged, they knew of his bail conditions and they advised they were monitoring him.

I was actively following up changes to the system. The difference again is this government has delivered change. With the passing of legislation, these circumstances will not arise again, while the member for Unley has been playing for a headline. Be assured, they are waking up to you. Your colleagues are awake to you.

The SPEAKER: Minister, no-one is waking up to me.

The Hon. J.M. RANKINE: No—well, some of us are, sir. You can be assured that people are waking up to the member for Unley. His colleagues are waking up to him, the parents he has been involved with are waking up to him, the media are waking up to him and you can bet the community are waking up.

Mr Pisoni: They're waiting for you to wake up, Jennifer.

The Hon. J.M. Rankine: They're waking up to you.

The SPEAKER: If either of the participants makes a further utterance, they will be leaving the chamber together. Member for Finniss.

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