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Speaker 1: Now the opposition is saying that the embattled Child Protection

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Speaker 1: Minister Katrine Hillyard back from leave and there is a

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Speaker 1: restructure of her department that's been undertaken. Josh Tegus, Shadow

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Speaker 1: Child Protection Minister, mister t good morning.

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Speaker 2: Good morning, Matthew and to all of your listeners, thanks

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Speaker 2: for having me back on your program.

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Speaker 1: What's the restructure about? What's that look like? And that

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Speaker 1: was done while she was away?

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Speaker 2: I understand, yes, and that's a very good first question

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Speaker 2: to the minister. First of all, it's bewildering that we

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Speaker 2: see this restructure, which looks like it's very wide ranging,

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Speaker 2: an admission that the department in this now long ongoing crisis,

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Speaker 2: is admitting that the department's functions in disarray. But what's

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Speaker 2: really extraordinary is that this has all been announced in

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Speaker 2: the absence of the minister. And so it seems we've

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Speaker 2: now gone from a situation where the minister is incompetent

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Speaker 2: and preoccupied for now being irrelevant. And so you know,

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Speaker 2: we've heard Katrine hill Judd before she went away overseas

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Speaker 2: on leave several weeks ago, insisting to all South Australians

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Speaker 2: that she was open and urging people to come on

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Speaker 2: board and work with her. And now we're seeing this

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Speaker 2: very substantial restructure announced by people in the department, but

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Speaker 2: completely absent the minister. A minister needs to step up

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Speaker 2: immediately and explain, well, did she approve all of this

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Speaker 2: while she was on leave overseas and how is she

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Speaker 2: going to explain what's supposed to be achieved. And of

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Speaker 2: course this is all in the context of the now

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Speaker 2: long absence of the department's deputy Chief executive, no sign

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Speaker 2: of where he is or when, if ever he might

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Speaker 2: be returning.

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Speaker 1: Is this unusual? Surely it's not. Surely departments are restructured

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Speaker 1: by the department heads, by the public servants in the department.

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Speaker 1: The minister wouldn't have a lot of saying that, well.

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Speaker 2: You know, Matthew in circumstances where it's widely acknowledged, and

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Speaker 2: thousands and thousands of South Australian's Terrors and those involved

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Speaker 2: in the sector have signed a petition calling for the

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Speaker 2: minister's removal. It's widely acknowledged. Were in the midst of

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Speaker 2: a crisis. It's time when you need ministerial leadership. You

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Speaker 2: need leadership at the top where this is a responsibility

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Speaker 2: that's clearly at the feet of ta train Hill Judd

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Speaker 2: while she remains in the job and in battled as

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Speaker 2: she is to explain how the changes might address the crisis.

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Speaker 2: We have no information about that at all, and so yes,

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Speaker 2: it's important that the department is well led by senior

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Speaker 2: management and we've shone a light on the absence to

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Speaker 2: the Deputy Chief Executive in that regard. Complete mystery is

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Speaker 2: to where he is and why, and the Minister hasn't explained.

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Speaker 2: We're really at a point, Matthew where this has long

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Speaker 2: been a test of leadership for the Premier and Peter

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Speaker 2: Malanowskis needs to step up and zack Katrine Hillyard and

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Speaker 2: appoint a dedicated and competent minister who can explain to

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Speaker 2: South Australian how this government is going to stop the

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Speaker 2: crisis from going from intolerable to even worse. And we

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Speaker 2: know and your listeners have been following this closely. I

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Speaker 2: know we have nearly fifty individual charges of child sexual

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Speaker 2: abuse against children in care, that is, and one among

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Speaker 2: them at least a charge against the staff member of

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Speaker 2: the Department for a child sexual abuse. We've had two

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Speaker 2: pregnancies of children in care, and meanwhile, the Minister has

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Speaker 2: failed to provide long promised reform legislation that she said

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Speaker 2: was coll to the agenda more than two years ago,

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Speaker 2: and has failed to meet key target's year after year.

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Speaker 2: It's no wonder that I'm not alone. All of the

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Speaker 2: non government members in the Parliament are calling for her removal.

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Speaker 2: The Premier needs to act and there's urgency to this. Matthew.

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Speaker 1: Is there a bit of irony though on your part

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Speaker 1: calling for a dedicated Minister for Child Protection? Whinn? As

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Speaker 1: Shadow Child Protection Minister, you also have the shadow portfolios

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Speaker 1: of Aboriginal Affairs, Prevention of Family and Domestic Violence and

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Speaker 1: Shadow Attorney General. No.

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Speaker 2: And I'm glad you've asked, Matthew, as you have just

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Speaker 2: indicated as a senior member of the Opposition shadow cabinet,

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Speaker 2: my portfolios, as you just identified, are interconnected in a

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Speaker 2: way that informed how much of a priority as a

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Speaker 2: team we place on child protection. And not only that,

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Speaker 2: but I have a dedicated Assistant Shadow Minister for Child

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Speaker 2: Protection working alongside me and our team to make sure

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Speaker 2: that we're holding the government to account. And the other

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Speaker 2: thing I'd say, Matthew, is that it's a very different

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Speaker 2: thing for the minister in government responsible for that entire

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Speaker 2: department to be delivering day to day for South Australian

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Speaker 2: and for the opposition on the other hand, to be

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Speaker 2: holding the government to account. We've long called for a

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Speaker 2: dedicated minister in this space because nothing is more important

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Speaker 2: for South Australians than to be sure that our most

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Speaker 2: vulnerable children are in a good, safe care so that

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Speaker 2: they can thrive. And that's just not happening right now.

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Speaker 2: It's a matter of urgency and priority and the Premier

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Speaker 2: better take a step back from watching the Olympics and

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Speaker 2: get on with doing the job, and that means backing

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Speaker 2: to train Hill Yard and appointing a new, dedicated and

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Speaker 2: competent minister.

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Speaker 1: I don't think he's going to do any of that

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Speaker 1: anytime soon, I suspect Josh t thank you for coming

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Speaker 1: on pleasure. Thanks Matthew Shadow, Child Protection Minister and Attorney

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Speaker 1: General Aboriginal Affairs, Prevention of Family and Domestic Violence,