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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2020-07-21 Daily Xml
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Disability Services

The Hon. E.S. BOURKE (14:40): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking a question of the Minister for Human Services regarding disability services.

Leave granted.

The Hon. E.S. BOURKE: On 4 June this year, the minister was asked a question with the following explanation:

When asked about disability careworker screenings in one particular media interview, the minister said all of the following, in this order: 'I can't comment on those sorts of details', 'I can't comment', 'I don’t have that information', 'That's a rather inappropriate question', 'I'm not going to talk about screening' and 'I'm not going to respond to this line of questioning'.

The minister was then asked how many applications had been received from Integrity Care following the death of Ann Marie Smith. The minister's answer did not reveal how many applications had been received and, instead, referred to ongoing investigations, including the federal inquiry by Alan Robertson SC. This week, when Alan Robertson SC came to Adelaide to undertake his inquiry, it was reported that, and I quote:

Mr Robertson said 'neither Integrity Care SA Ltd…nor her carer Ms Maione have agreed to assist my review'.

My questions to the minister are:

1. Given that that the minister won't answer questions about Integrity Care and Integrity Care won't cooperate with the independent federal inquiry, how can the public have confidence that the truth will be revealed?

2 Has the reporting of the dozens of screening applications from Integrity Care prejudiced any investigations?

3. If not, why has the minister been hiding such critical information from the chair of her own task force?

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK (Minister for Human Services) (14:42): There are a lot of issues to unpack there. If I can respond to the last one first, in relation to the task force chair—I can just repeat, and I do get a bit tired of repeating myself but I feel that I have to because of the line of questioning—the task force is not looking into the details relating to the tragic death of Ann Marie Smith or the elements which necessarily include the disability services provider that was 'caring' for her at the time.

Those comments that I made at the time I stand by and if one is to question confidence in the system in terms of the investigations, I think that is really a very unfortunate slur on the good work of the South Australian police force who have been working with my department. My department has also been working with the Quality and Safeguards Commission. I think the Labor Party knows that in relation to these matters, because they are under investigation, I am not able to provide specific details on them and that continues to be my position.

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