House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2021-03-03 Daily Xml

Contents

Question Time

Review of Harassment in the South Australian Parliament Workplace

Mr MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Leader of the Opposition) (14:09): My question is to the Premier. Has the Premier referred the serious criminal incidents highlighted in the Acting Equal Opportunity Commissioner's report into parliament tabled yesterday to South Australian police?

The Hon. V.A. CHAPMAN (Bragg—Deputy Premier, Attorney-General, Minister for Planning and Local Government) (14:09): The member has inquired as to the action in relation to a report which you tabled, sir, in the parliament, and I indicate two things: firstly, the recommendations therein are for the consideration of the parliament, and that will no doubt occur in due course.

There is no finding or recommendation by Ms Strickland as to the criminality and/or recommendation to refer matters to the police. I would remind members, who might recollect that they were invited via a survey under this procedure to make a contribution for consideration by the commission in this matter, that information was expected to be confidential.

I note from the report that, I think, there were four people who conducted interviews with the commissioner, and also two further who put written submissions in which are affiliated with the allegations of misconduct, and they are matters, of course, entirely for the commissioner if she were to have the view to refer either to her commission and/or any other appropriate authority.

That is not a matter for recommendation with this bald information. The statistical information that has been accumulated I think has been valuable. I thank the Premier for the data analytics unit in the Premier's department and the assistance they gave to deal with the appreciation and interpretation of the data from these surveys, but I just remind members that there is no recommendation or finding that supports the referral of any of these matters by anyone to the police.