Almost 50 people charged with sexual offences against children in SA state care

ABC NEWS (Australia)

There have been shocking revelations in South Australia that almost 50 people, including a department worker, have been charged with sexual offences against children and young people in state care.

Transcript

00:00This information was revealed by the Department for Child Protection in response to questions

00:06from the Parliamentary Budget and Finance Committee in May.

00:09The Department says that 49 people have been charged in relation to sexual offences against

00:14children and young people in the state's care over the past two years.

00:18And two of these matters resulted in pregnancies and also one of these matters was in relation

00:23to a DCP staff member who was charged with sexual offences.

00:29And the opposition here in South Australia says that this really isn't good enough and

00:32they're renewing calls for the state's Child Protection Minister to resign.

00:36Shadow Minister Josh Teague has called these statistics, this information, intolerable.

00:41He says that Minister Katrine Hildyard, who also has sporting and racing portfolios, should

00:46resign and that a dedicated Child Protection Minister should be appointed.

00:50In response, Minister Hildyard says that she wouldn't be distracted by what she says is

00:54petty politics.

00:56She says that she would like to see the opposition work with her to tackle these challenges in

00:59the system.

01:00She says that there's been an increase in carers and in staff and that she's determined

01:04to do what she can do to help work on the system.

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