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Legislative Council - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2017-02-28 Daily Xml
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Female Genital Mutilation

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK (14:35): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before directing a question to the Minister for Police on the subject of female genital mutilation or FGM.

Leave granted.

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: An organisation, which I have referred to in this place before, No FGM Australia, lodged a freedom of information application with SAPOL and received a reply dated 22 June 2015. The information that they sought was, firstly, reports of girls at risk of FGM, and secondly, reports of girls who had already been subjected to FGM. The reply from SAPOL to No FGM Australia states, in part:

A search has been undertaken and South Australian police has not received any complaints relating to female genital mutilation since the legislation was introduced.

That, I advise for the minister's benefit, was in the mid 1990s. My questions for the minister are:

1. Does he stand by this particular advice from his agency?

2. Can he update the chamber on any reports of girls at risk or subjected to FGM since that FOI was lodged in 2015?

The Hon. P. MALINAUSKAS (Minister for Police, Minister for Correctional Services, Minister for Emergency Services, Minister for Road Safety) (14:37): Thank you to the Hon. Ms Lensink for her important questions on a harrowing topic. What I can advise the chamber and the honourable member is that I am not aware of any recent briefs being received by my office from SAPOL regarding this particular subject. I have no reason to believe that the information that has been disclosed by SAPOL to the Hon. Ms Lensink in the FOI application, to which she refers, is anything but accurate. I have no reason to believe otherwise. Of course, if the honourable member, or anybody else, has information that needs to be brought to light that suggests otherwise, I am more than happy to hear it, but I am not in a position to advise the chamber that I have seen any information to the contrary.

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