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House of Assembly - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2016-06-22 Daily Xml
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Child Protection

Mr MARSHALL (Dunstan—Leader of the Opposition) (14:17): My question is to the Premier. Will the Premier now, once and for all, accept responsibility for the systemic failures in Families SA over 14 years as outlined by Commissioner Nyland? If he will not accept responsibility, who will?

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Newland is called to order, as is the member for Davenport, and the member for Hartley is warned.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier) (14:18): I have accepted responsibility for the failings in our child protection system. Of course, it must reside with this government and, in large measure, with me because I am the Premier of this state and have also held important responsibilities in this area. But every single time a challenge has emerged in the system of child protection there has been an open—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: That's right—an inquiry where we have exposed ourselves to the scrutiny of an independent inquiry and we have responded to each of those inquiries—the Layton inquiry; the Mullighan inquiry, which, I must concede, was handled in cooperation with the then leader of the opposition, Rob Kerin, who adopted a bipartisan position in relation to child protection; the Debelle inquiry, which arose out of an event which, as soon as it occurred, we responded to and conducted an independent inquiry; and then, of course, the awful events concerning the carer McCoole, where we put in place the present royal commission.

In each of those cases, the government exposed itself in an accountable way to an independent review and had to deal with the criticisms that emerged, and in each of those cases we responded. I think, on any view of it, we have responded to each of those issues. People regard the response to the original Layton review, with its tripling of resources to our child protection system, as an important response. People widely regard the Mullighan review as a successful inquiry that supported victims in state care.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The opposition will cease interjecting. The member for Chaffey can hardly hear himself on his phone.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Of course, the work that has been done in relation to the Debelle inquiry has now led to a series of changes in the way in which we alert parents to allegations that are made about people who work within schools, and they have been fully implemented. We will take the findings of these recommendations and implement them immediately, just as we did yesterday with the interim report.

The SPEAKER: The members for Adelaide and Schubert are called to order. I warn for the first time the members for Morialta, Davenport and Adelaide and the deputy leader. I warn for the second and the final time the member for Morialta and the member for Hartley. I will speak slowly so the member for Morialta can keep tally.

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