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House of Assembly - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2016-06-08 Daily Xml
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Child Protection

Ms SANDERSON (Adelaide) (14:28): My question is to the Minister for Education and Child Development. Minister, will you accept the advice of Belinda Valentine, the grandmother of Chloe Valentine, and initiate an immediate investigation into the interaction of Families SA with the victims of the Hillier tragedy?

Mr Duluk interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Davenport is warned.

The Hon. J.R. RAU (Enfield—Deputy Premier, Attorney-General, Minister for Justice Reform, Minister for Planning, Minister for Industrial Relations, Minister for Child Protection Reform, Minister for the Public Sector, Minister for Consumer and Business Services, Minister for the City of Adelaide) (14:28): It is unfortunate, I think, that the temptation of drawing attention to oneself off the back of what is an unspeakable tragedy is preventing people from accepting the reasonable request that people just allow circumstances to pan out, as has been requested by the Commissioner of Police, in their own time. But if it is of any assistance to the member for Adelaide and others, and will enable them to just calm down and allow things to unfold, I can advise the parliament that I spoke personally on Wednesday 1 June, in the afternoon, with Commissioner Nyland. I informed her that we had available to her for her consideration any and all documents held by Families SA pertinent to this particular matter—

Dr McFetridge interjecting:

The Hon. J.R. RAU: As best I can recall, yesterday was not 1 June.

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

Mr Gardner interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Morialta is on two warnings.

The Hon. J.R. RAU: So far as I am concerned, given that we have an independent royal commissioner looking into matters similar to this, and given the fact that as of last week materials relevant to this had been made available to her, it is a matter for her exactly how she decides to deal with those matters. I am confident that she can make those decisions without the unsolicited advice of various commentators who pop up pretty much every day since. I think it is also undoubtedly the case that the internal procedures in relation to the addressing of matters within the department, within Families, will of course take place in their ordinary course, and they would—

Dr McFetridge: Why didn't you say that yesterday?

The SPEAKER: The member for Morphett is warned.

The Hon. J.R. RAU: I would ask people finally to stop not treating this tragedy with the respect it deserves, to accept that the police have a job to do—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. J.R. RAU: —the police have a job to do—

The SPEAKER: The leader is warned for the second and final time and the member for Finniss is called to order.

The Hon. J.R. RAU: —and I think we can say that the commissioner is well placed to do whatever she chooses to do, safe in the knowledge that she has access to all relevant material and the powers to do whatever she wants with it.

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