Don’t deceive me again: Rankine’s warning
Education minister Jennifer Rankine has joined her predecessor Grace Portolesi in accusing department officials of deceit.
Speaking today with FIVEaa’s Leon Byner, Rankine said she had been deceived once and would not tolerate it a second time.
Last Sunday, Portolesi told the Sunday Mail she had been been given information by department officials that she “couldn’t be certain of”.
Today, Rankine went one step further, adding the threat of disciplinary action.
“They won’t get to do that to me twice; they won’t get the opportunity to deceive me twice,” she told listeners.
“The Debelle report has highlighted significant faults with the department.
“I can’t sack public servants, but I won’t tolerate it.
“We have processes we are required to go through and we have started those.
“We have the situation of the department where they accepted legal advice that wasn’t correct and that wasn’t questioned.
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“Every step along the way there were people that should have and could have been questioned.
“I expect there will be disciplinary actions applied to people named in that report.
“I’m not going to do or say anything that will prejudice those outcomes.
“This is a massive wake up call for everyone in the department.”
The Debelle report found numerous shortcomings in the education department’s handling of communication with parents following the arrest of an out-of-school hours staff member at a western suburbs school. The worker was later convicted and jailed for the sexual assault of a child.
