Protection Reform Minister John Rau under fire over ‘unsolicited commentators’ reference in Parliament

CHILD Protection Reform Minister John Rau has come under fire over references he made to “unsolicited commentators” and people “drawing attention to oneself” in the wake of the killing of a mother and two children last week.

Chloe Valentine’s grandmother Belinda Valentine. Picture: Kelly Barnes

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CHILD Protection Reform Minister John Rau has been questioned by the grandmother of Chloe Valentine over references he made to “unsolicited commentators” and people “drawing attention to oneself” in the wake of the killing of a mother and two children last week.

Mr Rau made the comments in Parliament on Wednesday, responding to questions from the Opposition’s child protection spokeswoman Rachel Sanderson and Deputy Leader Vickie Chapman.

Ms Sanderson had asked if he would accept a call by Belinda Valentine — the grandmother of Chloe, who died in 2012 after being the subject of notifications to Families SA — to investigate the involvement of the agency with Yvette Rigney-Wilson and her children Amber and Corey.

They were killed at a Hillier property last Monday.

Mr Rau said his comments were directed at Ms Sanderson and Ms Chapman “and their unhelpful comments”.

However, Ms Valentine — who had earlier appeared at a press conference with Ms Sanderson — questioned “who is he directing that at?”.

Child Protection Reform Minister John Rau.

“The Opposition is just doing their job asking questions on behalf of the people,” she said.

“It’s a bit contemptuous — do we not have a right to ask questions?

“These might be questions that they don’t like but they’re questions that need to be asked.

“This isn’t about me. Let’s bring the focus back to the kids here.”

It comes after Mr Rau last week called Ms Sanderson “rude, foolish and contemptuous” for calling on the Government to reveal more details about the involvement of Families SA in the Hillier case.

Mr Rau said his comments were “directed at Rachel Sanderson and, to a lesser extent Vickie Chapman, and their unhelpful public comments”.

“It is consistent with what I said, and what was reported, last week,” he said.

In May last year, Premier Jay Weatherill apologised to Ms Valentine after she and her family were offended by comments he made in Parliament that there was “a special place in hell for people who play politics with child sexual abuse”.

Ms Valentine had earlier appeared at a press conference with Opposition Leader Steven Marshall and independent Senator Nick Xenophon to call for the new Children’s Commissioner.