House of Assembly - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2016-09-20 Daily Xml

Contents

Child Protection Department

Mr MARSHALL (Dunstan—Leader of the Opposition) (14:26): Supplementary: where will this new department be located?

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) (14:26): That's a good question.

Mr Whetstone interjecting:

The Hon. J.R. RAU: No, this is better than some of the other questions.

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

The Hon. J.R. RAU: It is certainly better than the last one. The situation is that many of the people who perform the functions that we are talking about here, the child protection functions—

Mr Marshall interjecting:

The Hon. J.R. RAU: I am trying to answer your question, if you would just settle a little bit.

Ms Chapman interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The deputy leader is warned for the second and the final time.

The Hon. J.R. RAU: Just settle.

Mr Pisoni: What about an email address?

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

The Hon. J.R. RAU: I am very concerned that a member of the Italian parliament is seeing such disorderly behaviour.

The SPEAKER: Particularly by a paesano.

The Hon. J.R. RAU: In any event, one would have hoped that they would have performed in a more orderly fashion. In any event, many of the people who do the actual duties, the work involved in this, are already in—

Mr Marshall interjecting:

The Hon. J.R. RAU: Alright, can I get the whole sentence out, please?

Mr Marshall: It's not a trick question.

The Hon. J.R. RAU: No, and it's not a tricky answer, if I am allowed to finish it. There are Families people who are centred in various places around South Australia. They are dedicated places which are populated not by people from—

Ms Sanderson: So where's head office?

The SPEAKER: The member for Adelaide is warned.

The Hon. J.R. RAU: These places are not populated by people from the education department. These places are populated by people who do a particular function, which is child safety. Those places are going to obviously continue to operate. It would be foolish to terminate a lease and then move across the road and take out a new lease just for the sake of having a different building. There obviously will be a change in the badging of the premises, and so these people will be working, as they have been working, out in the field, so to speak, operating out of appropriate premises.

Mr van Holst Pellekaan interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Stuart is warned.

The Hon. J.R. RAU: None of this is very difficult if you just listen.

Mr van Holst Pellekaan interjecting:

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

The Hon. J.R. RAU: To the extent that there is any co-location of these people and education people, that will be sorted out once the new arrangements are in place. I can tell members, so they can be comforted in this, that many of the child functions we are talking about occur already in dedicated offices which are split all around the place. There is no reason to close those places just because that particular function is moving into a different department. That function will continue to have to be done, and there is no reason why it shouldn't be done from where it presently is being done.