Ms ANDERSON - 2010-08-19
Yesterday, you assured me an appropriate interpreter was used to interview the alleged victim in a child abuse case in question. I have been informed, after Question Time yesterday, by the mother, that this interpreter was non-Indigenous, and speaks Pitjantjatjara; the child speaks Luritja. Could you table the request form used to obtain this interpreter from Aboriginal Interpreter Services, and documentation verifying the identity of this interpreter?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, first of all, I will not and I cannot devolve the identity of the child. The information I provided yesterday to the member for Macdonnell was information provided to me by the police who conducted the interviews in Alice Springs. It is the policy and the practice that every time they interview a person who does not speak English, or has English as a second or third language, an appropriate interpreter is engaged, is employed, is involved.
If you have any further information, member for Macdonnell, I will be very happy to receive it and go back and question the people who provided me the information. If the mother says so, I have no reason not to believe you, but I will certainly go back and question. Give me the facts and the dates and everything else, and I am prepared to challenge the advice I received from the police.
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, first of all, I will not and I cannot devolve the identity of the child. The information I provided yesterday to the member for Macdonnell was information provided to me by the police who conducted the interviews in Alice Springs. It is the policy and the practice that every time they interview a person who does not speak English, or has English as a second or third language, an appropriate interpreter is engaged, is employed, is involved.
If you have any further information, member for Macdonnell, I will be very happy to receive it and go back and question the people who provided me the information. If the mother says so, I have no reason not to believe you, but I will certainly go back and question. Give me the facts and the dates and everything else, and I am prepared to challenge the advice I received from the police.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016