Labor approved abuse cover-up

SOUTH Australia's Labor government approved a decision not to tell parents about child-sex charges against a teacher.

SOUTH Australia's Labor government approved a decision, made in a crisis strategy meeting attended by spin doctors seven months ago, not to tell parents about child-sex charges against a teacher and to mislead the school's governing council.

The Australian can today reveal a meeting on May 16 of the highly regarded Adelaide eastern suburbs school's leadership team and Education Department staff, including from the media unit, considered a recommendation to inform the school community.

A department spokesman refused to say who gave the advice. He said that "after consideration" a decision was made in consultation "both verbally and by email" with the minister's office to inform staff only. "There was a meeting on 16 May, shortly after news of the arrest was conveyed to DECD (Department for Education and Child Development)," a statement said. "The option of informing the school community was discussed . . . The decision was made to notify parents at an appropriate time.

"Staff were told of the development and asked to be on the lookout for . . . signs of distress among the student population, and to report these promptly if noticed."

The spokesman said SA Police had left "the final decision on notification" with the government.

Last Friday, after the case was revealed by The Australian, letters of notification were mailed to parents, and "the principal has given a detailed explanation to the governing council chair".

The latest revelations about the government's approach to disclosure will underscore what the opposition says is a "culture of cover-ups" overseen by Education Minister Grace Portolesi and her predecessor, Premier Jay Weatherill -- aspects of which are the subject of a KPMG report, and ongoing investigations by a retired judge with royal commission powers and the Ombudsman.

Ms Portolesi said the school was one of five identified by an audit last month, in light of a child-rape cover-up in a western suburbs school that is the subject of a "very specific" review by former judge Bruce Debelle.

Ms Portolesi said parents at two other schools would not be told about sex abuse cases until next year, while charges were not laid against anyone at the other two schools, so there was no need to tell those school communities.

A spokeswoman for Ms Portolesi said: "Details around these other cases need to be considered further . . . before any further information can be released."

Opposition education spokesman David Pisoni called for all probes into child abuse in public schools to be transferred to the Debelle inquiry.

Mr Weatherill said the Debelle inquiry would "provide recommendations about the procedures and processes that should be in place" in future.