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

Mr MARSHALL (Dunstan—Leader of the Opposition) (14:59): My question is to the Minister for Education and Child Development. What flaws in the process of screening and ongoing monitoring of Families SA staff allowed issues of high concern to go undetected and unactioned?

The SPEAKER: 'Unactioned.'

The Hon. J.M. RANKINE (Wright—Minister for Education and Child Development) (14:59): I'm not sure what 'unactioned' is, sir. The Leader of the Opposition is making assertions that he has no basis for. What we have done is implement an independent audit to make sure that we only have people who are suitable for employment one-on-one with children and who are working in our residential care facilities. All of those people undergo—

Mr Marshall interjecting:

The Hon. J.M. RANKINE: Sir, again I cannot answer the question. He asks me a question and then talks over the top of me.

Mr Whetstone interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Chaffey is called to order. The warning has got his interjection in Hansard, anyway.

The Hon. J.M. RANKINE: All of the people who work in Families SA are required to go through the DCSI screening process, so they have a criminal history check and they have a background screening check. We also put them through other assessments and checks. What we have done is undergone an audit, and former commissioner Hyde has identified some people from that desktop audit that flagged some concerns, but what he says is that this needs to undergo a secondary process. He has stressed that this is simply a desktop process. I don't know what the outcome of this secondary assessment is going to be.

Ms Sanderson: You shouldn't have announced it.

The Hon. J.M. RANKINE: The member for Adelaide says I shouldn't have announced it.

Ms Sanderson: You wouldn't have announced it if it had no basis.

The Hon. J.M. RANKINE: That is not true. Of course I should have announced it. I advised the house we were undertaking the audit, and within 24 hours of receiving the information the people concerned—the 25 who were being asked not to come to work—were being contacted and the public of South Australia were being advised of the advice that came from former commissioner Hyde. If I had not done that, I would have been accused of covering up. It was absolutely proper that I should advise—

Ms Chapman interjecting:

The Hon. J.M. RANKINE: It is also proper that people get some fairness in the process, so I am not going out there and publicly announce issues around these workers until we go through the secondary assessment that was recommended by commissioner Hyde.

Mr Marshall interjecting:

The Hon. J.M. RANKINE: Again, the Leader of the Opposition shouts at me across the chamber. If he looks at the ministerial statement that I gave today, I have said that the assessment panel has commenced their work and we will hope to get through that work as quickly as possible. It is in the interests of these workers that these matters be settled. It certainly isn't in their interests that this be prosecuted in the public arena. It is in the interests of the children that we have these matters settled. They are my priority: their safety is my priority.

Mr Marshall interjecting:

The Hon. J.M. RANKINE: Again, the Leader of the Opposition sits there and shouts across the table. He cries his crocodile tears, making out he cares about children, and what he is after is a headline for the TV news. There is nothing about concern for children.

Mr GARDNER: Point of order, sir. The minister has imputed improper motive.

The SPEAKER: I uphold the member for Morialta's point of order, and I call the Minister for Education to order. Before the leader continues, I want to commend the member for Hartley on his outstanding innovation of emailing me statements that he claims ministers are reading from. Please continue, leader.

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