'No police', ex-student warned

A FORMER student who got hush money for being wrongly accused of viewing pornography at school, was told not to go to police.

A FORMER student was told by a senior Education Department official he could not go to police after receiving $30,000 in hush money for being wrongly accused of viewing hundreds of pornographic websites at a South Australian school.

As the man yesterday accused Premier Jay Weatherill of "covering a path" by not dealing with the case, it emerged the department's then head of legal services, Don Mackie, had written an email last year that said a former student could not report the matter to police.

The man yesterday said he had called Mr Weatherill's office multiple times and emailed details of the matter to the Premier's office last month.

The Premier has said he was informed only on Tuesday when The Australian made inquiries to the department about the case.

Emails from Mr Mackie to the former student were yesterday read in parliament by Deputy Opposition Leader Vickie Chapman and Liberal education spokesman David Pisoni.

In an email sent on February 16 last year, Mr Mackie responded to questions raised by the former student about reporting the matter to police.

"What steps will now be taken is a matter for us," Mr Mackie said.

"You have agreed not to take any further steps and this includes filing any further report with police."

Mr Pisoni said it was extraordinary any government department would use confidentiality agreements to prevent people from raising a matter with police.

The former student yesterday told ABC radio that police contacted him on Wednesday morning after The Australian revealed his case.

"They (police) turned up and said they had been sent on instructions from the highest authority," the man said.

Education Minister Jennifer Rankine -- who learned of the matter a fortnight ago -- yesterday defended the actions of senior officials.

"We may question the agreement that was signed and some of the content of that, but I do think that (for) many of those people . . . it was about providing him with some support to get his life back on track," Ms Rankine told parliament yesterday.

Mr Weatherill said the matter was being taken seriously, after the former student told ABC radio that the Premier was "taking backward steps and just trying to cover a path".

The teacher who had been found to have used the then Year 10 student's account to view hundreds of websites -- some featuring "rapes" -- is now the subject of a new departmental investigation nine years later.

He was not stood down until The Australian revealed the matter on Wednesday.

Police and the department are reviewing their previous dealings with the former

student.

In an earlier email, Mr Mackie wrote that he "unofficially" shared concerns over the ongoing employment of the teacher and said he would do everything he could to "remedy the situation", as such a person should not be in the education system.