House of Assembly - Fifty-Third Parliament, First Session (53-1)
2014-10-14 Daily Xml

Contents

Families SA Internal Audit

Mr MARSHALL (Dunstan—Leader of the Opposition) (14:46): Can the minister give an explanation to the house about this abundance of caution? Can she provide any explanation as to why she cannot give us details—not specific individual person-by-person details, but details of what is the differentiation between the 25 where staff were stood aside versus the 77 where high concerns still remain?

The Hon. J.M. RANKINE (Wright—Minister for Education and Child Development) (14:47): Mr Hyde said the 25 were of an immediate priority and so that is why we have acted.

Mr Marshall: But what are the concerns?

The Hon. J.M. RANKINE: I have told you I am not going into those.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Davenport is called to order.

The Hon. J.M. RANKINE: We have a process that we—

Mr Marshall: Is there a legal reason—

The Hon. J.M. RANKINE: The leader of the—

Mr Marshall: —or you just don't want to tell us today? Is it embarrassing for the department?

Mr Williams: Or maybe doesn't know.

The SPEAKER: The member for MacKillop is called to order.

The Hon. J.M. RANKINE: Sir, it is impossible for me to even attempt to answer a question when the Leader of the Opposition continues to shout at me across the chamber. These are serious issues that have been raised through a desktop audit of the employment process that was undertaken in relation to 102 people and also looking at their employment history. We have acted on that; 25 were considered that we should ask them not to present to work until we can go through a further process of assessment. This is an important part of the process and I stress again that this is an audit that we implemented.