South Australia's opposition is playing politics with child sex abuse, says Premier Jay Weatherill.
On Wednesday the opposition released an email sent from the office of federal MP Mark Butler to the state education minister, asking for advice after a constituent who had raised concerns that an Adelaide school where a worker had been charged with sex offences was not taking proper action.
Opposition education spokesman David Pisoni said the email raised further questions about whether or not Mr Butler had spoken with Premier Jay Weatherill about the case and also about what response Mr Butler's office was given.
The email from Mr Butler's office came several months before the issue was raised in state parliament, sparking a major investigation by former supreme court judge Bruce Debelle over how the case had been handled and why parents weren't informed for two years.
Mr Debelle was highly critical of the education department in his report but cleared the premier of any knowledge of the sex abuse case.
Mr Pisoni said the email made it clear there was more information that Mr Debelle wasn't privy to.
He said it added further weight to the opposition's calls to reopen the Debelle inquiry.
But Mr Weatherill said the documents obtained under freedom of information and released by the opposition had been presented to Mr Debelle.
"What the Liberal Party are doing is playing politics with child sexual abuse," the premier said.
Mr Weatherill said he would now publish all appropriate documents related to the Debelle inquiry to prevent them from being drip fed by the opposition.
Speaking on ABC radio Mr Butler said the issue in question was "about as serious as it gets" but didn't recall the email from his staffer being raised with him.
Nor did raise the case with Mr Weatherill, he said.
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