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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2020-09-23 Daily Xml
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Screening Checks

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN (14:28): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking a question of the Minister for Human Services regarding screening.

Leave granted.

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN: The minister's acting chief executive has said publicly, and I quote:

Approximately 400,000 people in South Australia hold a screening in some respect, so it's not only people working in the system who have a screening. We don't have a list of all 400,000 people.

She also said, and again I quote:

500,000 people may require a screening; we rely upon the law to a certain extent and we have some compliance and monitoring.

My questions to the minister are:

1. How can the minister manage a live screening service, that is updated if people do things like commit crimes against children, if the agency doesn't have a list of everyone who has been screened?

2. What is the minister doing to deal with the 100,000 people who her chief executive says may need a screening but don't have one?

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK (Minister for Human Services) (14:29): I thank the honourable member for her question. I think the Labor Party is trying, once again, to be a bit cute and to imply things that don't exist. My acting chief executive was trying to outline something that we have been at pains to try to explain—

The Hon. C.M. Scriven interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: The honourable deputy leader asked a question. She might like to listen to the answer, and she will have the opportunity to ask a supplementary. The minister has the call.

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: Thank you, Mr President, for your protection. I have tried to explain on numerous occasions to the Labor Party about how screening works, in spite of the fact that it was a system that they essentially established. They have had only 2½-odd years out of being in government, and they need to have these things explained to them repeatedly.

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: The screening unit receives applications on behalf of—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! Let the minister answer.

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: —employees, students, individuals or the organisations that require them to be screened. Those applications are assessed. We don't have employment records to match up people to ensure that they are screened. There are legislative obligations, depending on which screening they have, on organisations particularly but also on individuals for working with children checks to ensure they are screened.

If I can use an analogy that the honourable member might be able to relate to so that perhaps the penny will finally drop, in South Australia, as in all jurisdictions, in order to get behind the wheel of a car and drive a car you need to have a licence. The government is not actually in the practice of checking every single driver every day, on the road, 24 hours a day, to ensure that everybody who is behind the wheel of a car and driving a car on a road actually has a licence.

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: We rely on people to obey the law, we rely on people to fill in their tax returns appropriately—a whole range of things. There are measures to ensure compliance if we believe there is a breach. I'm not sure how many times or in how many ways I need to try to—

The Hon. I.K. Hunter interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: The Hon. Mr Hunter!

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: —explain to the Labor Party how these things work.

The PRESIDENT: A supplementary question, the honourable deputy leader.

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