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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2020-06-02 Daily Xml
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Safeguarding Taskforce

Mr MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Leader of the Opposition) (14:29): My question is to the Premier: why has the Premier established a task force and set a deadline for a task force without even knowing what the task force is looking into or releasing—

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: Point of order, Mr Speaker: that question is clearly out of order and offends standing order 97.

The SPEAKER: I am going to listen to the remainder of the question, but so far it does contain some argument; so, leader, I will listen to it.

Mr MALINAUSKAS: I'm not sure what the argument is. Again, I say: how can the Premier establish a task force, set a deadline for the task force, without reviewing the terms of reference for the task force and know whether or not the task force even has those terms of reference?

The SPEAKER: I'm going to allow the question on the basis that it's broad. I'm going to allow the Premier an opportunity to address some of the content raised in it, and therefore I'm not going to take points of order, bogus points of order or points of order for debate, unless it's a clear infringement of the standing orders. The Premier is going to have great scope in answering this question.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL (Dunstan—Premier) (14:30): Thank you very much, sir. I don't know what is so difficult about this. We had a tragic case that, quite frankly, sickened most people in South Australia and, whilst I'm not going to reflect on that particular case because it is the subject of a major crime investigation in South Australia, it did highlight the fact that there were gaps that existed for people who were living with a disability in South Australia—in particular, the oversight and safeguarding of the provision of services to those people. So we immediately set about having a task force, establishing a task force—

Mr Brown: What are the terms of reference?

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —and we have asked them to look at those gaps associated with the oversight and safeguarding—

An honourable member interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Playford is warned.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —of the services that are provided to those people living with a profound disability. I don't think this is really difficult to understand. More than that, I have already outlined to the house today—

Ms Stinson interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Badcoe!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —very clearly that we want to keep the scope of this task force broad. There are people on this task force with great lived experience and, quite frankly, they want to get to the bottom of a sickening case in South Australia. They don't want to play politics—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —they want to get answers. They don't want to play politics, they want to get answers, and I saw the Leader of the Opposition's press conference—

Mr Picton interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Kaurna is warned.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —on Sunday. It was one of the most disgraceful, overtly political press conferences that I have ever seen, and he should hang his head in shame. Every South Australian should be rightly sickened by what they have seen, and what have we done in South Australia. We've got a major crime investigation—

Mr Malinauskas interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The leader is warned.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —underway immediately, a Coroner's inquiry pending, a judicial inquiry at the federal level, and we have moved quickly to establish this task force and appoint people with lived experience, wide experiences coming from different angles to look at the gaps—

Mr Malinauskas interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, leader! We have the question.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —that exist in the oversight and safeguarding for those people who are living with a disability. Contrast that with the despicable response to tragedy that occurred under their watch when they were in government. Time and time and time again: lift up the carpet, push everything underneath, nothing to see.What a disgraceful, hopeless administration they were over a long period of time!

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, members on my left!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: So I'm not going to take any criticism. I'm not taking one bit of criticism from those opposite. We have moved quickly. We have moved extraordinarily quickly in South Australia—

Mr Malinauskas interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Leader, stop shouting.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —and we want to keep the terms of reference for this as broad as possible, the scope as broad as possible. There are gaps that exist—

Mr Malinauskas interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Leader!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —that should not exist as we transition from ostensibly a state-based system to a federal system. By working with people with lived experience, people who are coming from multiple backgrounds, we can get to a place where we will not have a situation like this, where gaps don't exist in South Australia.

I'm more than happy with the work that the task force is going to do. They are going to give us an interim report by the middle of this month. I think that is an outstanding commitment that has been made by the task force, and then we will get the final report by the end of next month, and then we will take action. Some of those things will be issues for the federal government to address; some of them will be things that we can do here in South Australia. We are not running away from that.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: We are wanting to shine a light on this issue as quickly as possible. We want to improve the system.

The Hon. S.C. Mullighan: Get some terms of reference sorted.

The SPEAKER: Member for Lee!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: We don't want to play politics. We want to get on and solve, identify and then fill those gaps that exist as people move from one system to the other.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: If the leader continues to shout like that, he will be leaving today. He has the call.

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