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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2020-06-03 Daily Xml
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Safeguarding Taskforce

Mr MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Leader of the Opposition) (14:36): My question is to the Premier. Does the Premier expect a comprehensive report back from the task force in 12 days' time, considering they will have only met twice?

The Hon. V.A. CHAPMAN (Bragg—Deputy Premier, Attorney-General) (14:37): Well, I'm not sure what the Leader of the Opposition means by 'a comprehensive report' in relation to—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Interjections are disorderly, member for Elizabeth. You are called to order.

The Hon. V.A. CHAPMAN: The minister met with the task force at the beginning of its initial meeting, obviously—

Mr Malinauskas: A 'get to know you'?

The Hon. V.A. CHAPMAN: Don't be so dismissive. These people are respected members of the community—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. V.A. CHAPMAN: —and the minister has welcomed them in appreciation on behalf of the government to actually undertake this task promptly and, of course, to make themselves available to undertake this important task. As a government, we do appreciate that and we thank the minister for doing just that. The second thing to be done was to conclude the arrangements as to precisely their terms of reference, which has been the subject of earnest concern for the opposition and of course needed to be a priority to conclude; and, thirdly, the operational matters that go with that. Importantly, that has occurred and there is in the next week or so an opportunity—

Mr Malinauskas: Two meetings—two meetings before they report.

The SPEAKER: Leader, you are on two warnings.

The Hon. V.A. CHAPMAN: The opposition can repeatedly interrupt as to what they think is happening in relation to this, but I will explain to the parliament that this is a task force of multiple persons who have committed to come in to consider the gaps as identified by the Premier repeatedly and to provide an interim report by the middle of this month and, secondly, a completed report at the end of July, I think—I would have to check the exact date, but there is to be a more comprehensive report.

While a number of other agencies are undertaking their proper area of work—whether it's investigative, major crime, cause of death, these are the matters which are running along in corollary, largely, and with respect to ensure that we don't interfere with a particular case there is energy being invested by this committee, which has the benefit of the people on it who can provide them ready information as to current processes.

I know that there has been a significant body of work done already by agencies under the Hon. Michelle Lensink to deal with things such as the Community Visitor Scheme, which has had a commonwealth interest for some time. Work has been done in considering other jurisdictions, for example, how they might operate, as an example. So quite a bit of work has been done. This task force is populated with people who are not only of expertise and lived experience but who are also members of and have access to departmental information, current protocols and operations.

It is really very important, as members are aware, of a transition period of a number of clients from state services to federal services. We need to make sure, as was highlighted by the recent case, that there is service delivery, that there is adequate supervision of that and that there is a mechanism by which we can, if necessary, improve that. That's the charge that has been given to the task force, to undertake that work. They have committed to do it—this is the task force that's been established—and we look forward to their preliminary report.

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