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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2020-06-04 Daily Xml
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Human Services Screening Unit

Ms COOK (Hurtle Vale) (14:28): My question is to the Premier. Will the Premier order an immediate audit of all workers providing care for the around 4,000 vulnerable South Australians to ensure that they have appropriate screening, as he is required to do under the bilateral agreement for the NDIS signed on 29 June 2018?

The Hon. J.A.W. Gardner: It's the same question.

The Hon. V.A. CHAPMAN (Bragg—Deputy Premier, Attorney-General) (14:28): It does have a familiar ring about it, that's true.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. V.A. CHAPMAN: Again, the—

Mr Picton interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Kaurna is warned.

The Hon. V.A. CHAPMAN: The joining of the dots by the member in the question claiming certain links with things is not accepted. However, I just want to assure the member and the house that the government is doing everything it can in relation to, firstly, assisting the police in relation to their inquiry, which includes circumstances relating to the agency, as I have referred to. Our government departments are working hard to support the police investigation and a number of other inquiries—I won't repeat them, you know what they are—and we will continue to do that. But in relation to the—

The Hon. Z.L. Bettison interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Ramsay!

The Hon. V.A. CHAPMAN: —service and what we're doing to assist the police, and what we're doing in relation to the assistance that we have provided, which we have committed to do, I am simply not at liberty to provide that detail to the member. I will not compromise that circumstance. The Premier provided to the parliament—I think, two days ago, or it may have been yesterday—his indication that our government didn't, upon coming into government, go through and audit all of the previous government's processes and who they had contracted and who they had utilised for services in the disability area. I suppose to some degree we relied on the previous government and the agencies that supported it to properly support those with disability in our community.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. V.A. CHAPMAN: But the indications of this recent case do raise the question about how can somebody be in an agency for five years, as it was under the previous government—we inherited it and nobody seemed to notice. That is a real question, but we are doing something about it—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. V.A. CHAPMAN: —and we will continue to do something about it, and we will make sure—

The Hon. A. Koutsantonis: You signed the bilateral.

The SPEAKER: Order! I did not sign the bilateral.

The Hon. V.A. CHAPMAN: —and I want to reassure the house of this: that we will make sure, initially through the task force, with all of the expertise in relation to that—and of course hopefully this will also be further informed once the police have concluded their investigation, which may or may not result in matters that they pursue, but we will on this side of the house, continue to be vigilant in relation to this area. There is no question about that from the government's point of view, and although—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Leader! Members on my left!

The Hon. V.A. CHAPMAN: —the member continues apparently to be frustrated about not having particular details as to the operation of government, which is in the support of the police investigation—

Ms Stinson: You should be frustrated you don't have the details.

The SPEAKER: Member for Badcoe is on two warnings.

The Hon. V.A. CHAPMAN: —I can't do anything about that at this point.

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