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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2022-09-06 Daily Xml
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Child Protection

Mr TEAGUE (Heysen) (15:20): Supplementary, in light of the minister's answer: can the minister explain to the house what step-by-step actions she took on 15 July, 16 July and 17 July 2022 after the Department for Child Protection advised her of Charlie's death, and why, having received, and I quote the minister, 'various briefings over the weekend and again on Monday 18 July' was the public not notified earlier? With your leave, and that of the house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

Mr TEAGUE: On 18 July 2022, media reported Charlie's death. On 19 July, the minister told South Australians that she was told of Charlie's death on Friday 15 July and received, and I quote, 'various briefings over the weekend and again on Monday 18 July' but did not address the public until Tuesday 19 July. That is in circumstances where the minister posted on social media her attendances at events at the weekend at sporting clubs apparently connected with her sport, recreation and racing portfolio responsibilities, including on 16 and 17 July.

The Hon. A. Koutsantonis: Were you doing your job on the weekend?

The Hon. K.A. HILDYARD (Reynell—Minister for Child Protection, Minister for Women and the Prevention of Domestic and Family Violence, Minister for Recreation, Sport and Racing) (15:21): Yes, I do my job every day. I will get to the substance of the question, but can I just say it's so disappointing to hear those comments questioning particular other responsibilities that I have when we are talking about such a grave, awful situation that our community is contemplating. I think it's very disappointing that you would talk about portfolio responsibilities in that regard—incredibly disappointing and quite insensitive.

What I can say, as the shadow minister spoke about and as I have been very clear about, is that I was of course notified in accordance with the new notification procedures that I have put in place since becoming minister and I received several briefings over the course of the weekend. In answer to your question, one of the very first things that I did—and I have said this publicly previously as well—is I actually made sure that I checked on the safety of other children in that home, which was, of course, one of the most urgent things to do and I did that. I checked on the safety of other children.

In terms of the part of the question about notifying the public, the shadow minister is aware that there were police investigations underway and I took advice about that, and of course that is why the issues were made public on Tuesday.

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