Select Committee on Matters Relating to the Independent Education Inquiry | Speech on Motion
25/09/2013
The Hon. K.L. VINCENT (17:19): I will speak briefly today on behalf of Dignity for Disability to support the motion of the Hon. Robert Brokenshire. I have no doubt that the Premier in another place will howl and carry on, and bluster about this request to appear, claiming that this is nothing but a political witch-hunt being carried out by the Liberal opposition. However, as I believe Matthew Abraham alluded to on radio yesterday morning, the public, journalists, minor political parties and Independent MPs, as well as the rest of the community, are perfectly capable of making up their own minds on this issue, without any lobbying, prompting or cajoling from the Liberal opposition.
Neither myself nor my office have been directly involved in the western suburbs school situation that lead to the Debelle inquiry. I have, however, seen the effect that abuse against children and young people with disabilities in particular can have on the victims, their families, and the surrounding community; it is devastating, to say the least. Our current police and court system is very limited—
The PRESIDENT: The Hon. Ms Vincent, again I draw your attention to the actual motion: it is a motion inviting the various ministers and the Premier. The debate to set up the committee has been done; the committee has been set up. This is purely a procedural motion, so if you could stick to it.
The Hon. K.L. VINCENT: Very well; I was just about to say I digress. Cycling through ministers for education cannot hide this. It does not make the endless child abuse cases in schools that seem to spew out of the Department for Education and Child Development okay, or better, or less horrific. While I appreciate the Debelle inquiry has made some recommendations, some of which are in the process of being implemented due to its limited terms of reference, Dignity for Disability remains concerned about whether all the issues have been teased out, with so many alleged abuse cases and so many mandatory notifications not followed up.
I was reminded just the other day, in relation to a Christies Beach school bus case, that it was a member of my staff who alerted the then minister for education, the Hon. Jay Weatherill, that a bus driver of an education department-provided bus had been charged with the alleged sexual assault of seven young children. His department did not tell him, we had to; if that does not indicate that this committee inquiry is necessary, I do not know what does.
For these reasons, of course, I support the Hon. Mr Robert Brokenshire’s motion. This is not a witch-hunt, as I have said on many occasions; it is about ensuring the Department for Education and Child Development has the right culture, the adequate resources and the appropriately trained staff to provide a safe environment in education facilities throughout South Australia. We can have all the standards, testing and NAPLAN we like in our modern educational environment—
The PRESIDENT: The Hon. Ms Vincent, please return to the motion.
The Hon. K.L. VINCENT: Yes, sir—but if we do not prevent child abuse, we have failed. For that reason, I support the motion.
