Page 1366 - Week 05 - Thursday, 26 April 1990
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help can be brought. As we all know, those in occupation often have a tactical advantage.
There is great inequality in that area of legislation, and the magistrates put enormous effort into being even-handed, and great effort is put in by the Legal Aid Commission and other practitioners who are dedicated in the area - it is unremunerative - to try to even the complete imbalance between the parties.
The Alliance Government is committed to maintaining current funding levels for the Legal Aid Commission to enable the continuation of this service. There can be no thought that we would work towards the derogation of that service. My law officers are currently investigating ways, in tandem with the Legal Aid Commission, to try to assist the commission in the great stress that it is under in relation to the domestic violence area.
We are also looking at broader, long-term solutions in cohesion with other States' Attorneys; particularly, the Government is examining the report of the National Committee on Violence, which highlighted the social and economic cost of violence. In due course I will be tabling the report and advising the Assembly of the implications of this for the ACT. Clearly, there should be unanimous support for the weapons amendment to the domestic violence legislation. That Bill, which has been introduced into this Assembly, will enable a magistrate, on request, to order the seizure of firearms and other weapons held by an alleged perpetrator of a domestic violence conflict.
Finally, the Leader of the Opposition said that we had failed to spend the $142,000. I have news for her; she did not allocate a separate fund of money. Although the item appeared at page 12 of the women's budget, that $142,000 represented a presumptive claim on the SAAP funds. The SAAP funding decisions, in the normal process of events, have only just come to me as Minister. They are recommendations by the committee in the standard, accepted way that we deal with the Commonwealth. There has been no delay and no attempt to siphon the funds away or use them for anything else.
If the Leader of the Opposition had given attention to these matters when she was in government she would have found that through an oversight - and I do not know whether it is hers or someone else's - she made provision in her budget but did not carry it through. In effect, that money has pre-empted the SAAP funding vote, and an acute problem has arisen about that funding matter. I had discussions with representatives of Toora women's shelter last week, and they will continue until we can resolve the funding issue that has arisen over that oversight.
I am happy to brief the Leader of the Opposition outside the Assembly in relation to those budget and treasury matters. They certainly have no reflection on the Alliance
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