Page 3253 - Week 11 - Thursday, 12 September 1991
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Domestic Violence
MR COLLAERY: My question is directed to the Chief Minister. Chief Minister, in view of your reported comments in this morning's Canberra Times that your first priority is maintaining the safety of women and children, how can you explain why you have failed to bring forward an amendment to the domestic violence Act to extend safety to such persons when they are interstate? As you are aware, the Alliance Government had well advanced the portability of domestic violence orders legislation. That legislation has not come forward. How can you possibly claim that your first priority is as you claim? Since this amendment is relatively straightforward, will you now instruct the Attorney-General to bring forward this reform and not wait for the Commonwealth to amend the Federal Service and Execution of Process Act - a promise it made many months ago and has not fulfilled?
MS FOLLETT: This matter of proposed law reform falls correctly within the Attorney-General's portfolio and I will ask him to give an answer.
MR CONNOLLY: I would be happy to give the answer, if Mr Collaery wanted to hear it.
MR COLLAERY: I will ask a supplementary question of the Chief Minister and I will ask a question of the Attorney later. I ask the Chief Minister: If you now say that Mr Connolly has carriage of these matters, why are you making comments on them? Will you now concede that the so-called initiatives you announced to the media were all before the Women's Consultative Forum chaired by Ms Maher - a forum you peremptorily dismissed - and that all the issues you put forward to the media were already in hand? One thing you have not mentioned is your failed initiative.
MS FOLLETT: Now we get to the heart of the matter. I will advise Mr Collaery very briefly on the first part of his question. Mr Connolly has told me that the law reform matter raised in the first part of Mr Collaery's question is before the Standing Committee of Attorneys-General and we are expecting a report on that matter very shortly.
Mr Collaery went on to refer to some totally unrelated matters by way of a supplementary question, and some new matters. He questions the action I have taken recently on domestic violence. There are two matters that ought to be mentioned. First of all, the committee Mr Collaery referred to as being chaired by Ms Maher has not been appointed. It never was appointed, it never met, and in fact no action was taken by the Alliance, other than to make an announcement and appoint Ms Maher as chair.
Ms Maher: That is a lie.
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