A motion for an Upper House inquiry into matters raised by the Debelle Royal Commission is likely to pass State Parliament this week, with the inquiry’s key supporter hoping that it can report before the end of the parliamentary year.
Family First MLC Rob Brokenshire says his motion is likely to pass the Legislative Council on Wednesday with support from the Liberals and majority of the cross-benchers.
“We’ll get majority of members’ support, then it would start as soon as advertising had occurred with a view to coming up with an interim report before we get up which is in six sitting weeks,” Brokenshire said. “And then there’s the possibility of committee continuing after that.”
There are just 18 sitting days left before the end of the year, with the option of additional days in December. Parliament will not sit next year until after the March state election.
Former Supreme Court Justice Bruce Debelle’s inquiry looked into the 2010 rape of a student at a western suburbs school by an after-school-hours-care worker and how the Government and Department handled the issue.
Brokenshire believes the report raised lines of inquiry that were not followed because it was not within its scope to cover.
“If we work hard then there is enough time to go through a number of these issues including one of the key issues raised by the report relating to incident records management,” Brokenshire said.
On that point, the Government this morning announced the state’s record system would be reviewed by retired District Court Judge Alan Moss, potentially paving the way for a re-write of the laws.
Brokenshire said while he supported the announcement it did not take away the need for a further inquiry.
“I support [the Government’s] announcement today but arguably that’s an attempt to circumvent what I’m proposing and I am proposing a much broader approach, so that the media and public can have a transparent look at the issues.
“We have to do everything in our power to protect the children of our state.”
As well as the Upper House inquiry, the Opposition has also flagged it will use question time to put pressure on the Government to answer the questions raised by the Debelle report.
