Child protection commissioner legislation passes South Australia's Lower House
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Legislation to create a children and young person's commissioner has passed South Australia's Lower House but the Opposition says more information is needed before it can pass further measures.
Key points:
- Child commissioner legislation passes within 20 minutes of introduction
- Opposition wants to scrutinise further measures
- Government confident of passing child protection legislation this year
Establishing a dedicated commissioner was a key recommendation in the state's Child Protection Systems Royal Commission that concluded SA's child protection system was in crisis.
The bill received Opposition support and passed within 20 minutes of its introduction by the Government.
The Government also introduced amendments to allow better data sharing between governments and agencies, as well as new laws that would change the checking system for adults wanting to work with children.
Mr Marshall said those measures required more scrutiny before the Opposition could support them.
"We're concerned about some of the transition arrangements," he said.
"No copy of the bill was ever provided to the Opposition before it was introduced into Parliament today."
Mr Marshall said the Government needed to move more quickly and bring in a new Child Protection Act after it committed to bringing one to Parliament "in September".
"We're nearly through September," he said.
"We've not even seen a draft and this is this continuation of this go slow, this neglect of child protection in South Australia," Mr Marshall said.
Legislation 'complex' and requires more work
Child Protection Reform Minister John Rau said the legislation was particularly complex and would fundamentally change the state's approach to child protection.
"There is a lot more work that needs to be done on drafting that," he said.
"We obviously will have to consult with a number of interested groups.
"Our intention is that we should ideally have that in the Parliament before the end of the year."
Mr Rau said he was confident of the bill's passage through Parliament.
"Today has been one of the most refreshing legislative experiences that I've had where I've put a bill in without notice and those on the other side have said, 'look let's get on with it. Let's pass it'," he said.
"If they're prepared to bring that degree of positive thinking to the child protection legislation, I think we can get that through too before the end of the year."
The Government said it had addressed 38 of the royal commissioner Margaret Nyland's 260 recommendations.
Topics: law-crime-and-justice, royal-commissions, states-and-territories, government-and-politics, child-abuse, family-and-children, community-and-society, adelaide-5000, sa
