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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2020-06-03 Daily Xml
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Safeguarding Taskforce

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Leader of the Opposition) (14:28): Supplementary arising from the original answer: how does the minister in any way reconcile what she is telling the chamber today with what she said yesterday, stating, 'I am not seeking to limit them in any way.' Which day was she telling the truth to this chamber?

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK (Minister for Human Services) (14:28): Both, because the reference that I was making was in relation to the terms of reference which has seemed to excite a lot of members of the Labor Party, as well as the media. It is the strangest response to anything I have seen in a while in that there is—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: Yes, absolutely.

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! The Hon. Ms Bourke!

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: The honourable Leader of the Opposition!

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: There have been a lot of inaccuracies in the reporting of this case and that, I think, is very disappointing because—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: —we need to get to the facts. The facts of the matter are that the task force was given a brief within days after it having—

The Hon. K.J. Maher interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: The Hon. Leader of the Opposition!

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: —been announced. That brief was to look at the gaps in safeguarding. Initial terms of reference were drafted and provided to the task force and they will be published this afternoon. There's nothing mysterious about this whole process.

The Hon. E.S. Bourke interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: It's just—

The Hon. E.S. Bourke interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! The Hon. Ms Bourke!

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: Might I add that what has been the response of the opposition, apart from lots of hubris, is to propose a judicial review, which was a device that they used all the time when they were in government. I thought it was a bit of a glass-jaw moment when the Leader of the Opposition referred to it, because it was a device that the Labor Party used to kick the issue down the road and hope that by the time the royal commission or judicial task force, or whatever situation it was, would be years, years down the track, and they would have hoped that by that stage South Australians would have forgotten about the tragedy.

In contrast, our response has been that we have established this task force very rapidly in response to the outpouring from people in the disability community, be they with lived experience, be they families, be they some incredibly conscientious and hardworking people in the field who are as distressed as everybody about how this could have happened. They are able, with their deep level of understanding of these issues, to quickly identify gaps in the system. I look forward to receiving their recommendations.

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