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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2018-08-01 Daily Xml
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Child Protection

Ms STINSON (Badcoe) (14:46): My question is to the Minister for Child Protection. What progress has the minister made on her child protection gala awards night?

The Hon. R. SANDERSON (Adelaide—Minister for Child Protection) (14:46): I don't know what you are referring to, I'm sorry.

The SPEAKER: Would you like to clarify, member for Badcoe?

Ms STINSON: Sure, yes. My question is to the Minister for Child Protection. I will reword it and give you a bit more information. Does the minister still intend to hold a gala awards night, as she stated on ABC radio on 5 April, which would be, and I quote, 'a bit like Channel 7 and 9 have their awards nights'?

The Hon. R. SANDERSON: Thank you for the question. It's fantastic to be always taken out of context. I believe that was referring to an interview where we were talking about staff and the fact that many reviews right back from the Layton inquiry talked about the toxic culture in the department and the need to change. One of the ways to change the department—besides a change of government, which is the most perfect way to change the culture—is to meet with the staff, many of whom, I must say when I was in Noarlunga, the last minister they met was David Wotton, as I have mentioned here before.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. R. SANDERSON: For me, it is about meeting the staff. To change the culture, you need—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The Premier will not interject. The minister has the call. The deputy leader and the Premier will not interject at each other. Please cease interjecting, Premier.

The Hon. S.S. Marshall interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Premier, please be quiet. The minister has the call and she will be heard in silence.

The Hon. R. SANDERSON: As we know from the many and varied millions of dollars that were spent on reviews and reports, there was always an underlying toxic culture, a culture of cover up, of butt covering. People were too scared to ever put their views forward. They were oppressed and they were bullied and they were scared to talk, so everyone ticked boxes and did their job and mistakes were made. They were understaffed by up to 270 FTEs for at least the last four years—

The Hon. S.S. Marshall: Shame!

The SPEAKER: The Premier is warned.

The Hon. R. SANDERSON: —so they are under incredible pressure. There is a high turnover rate, there is amazing churn and there are lots of people on WorkCover. So, of course, the idea of maybe rewarding them and incentivising good work and good practice—why wouldn't you look at ways to change the culture of a department that is on record as having a poor culture? They see it as from the top, not from them. They want to change the culture. Why not reward good behaviour, good initiatives, good programs that are brought in so that they can be duplicated in other departments?

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