Page 1888 - Week 07 - Thursday, 20 August 1992
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endorsed by the AFP when we run awareness campaigns on home security and precautions against housebreaking. These are minor modifications which are not the subject of any planning regulations anywhere in Canberra. Any Canberra citizen has the right to undertake these types of changes to his home without needing the approval of the neighbours or the Planning Authority.
Why should SAAP programs be treated any differently from any other home in Canberra? In a society where the community values services such as this, this should not be an issue. I am distressed that Mr Cornwell has decided to run on this issue. SAAP programs have, over the seven years they have operated in Canberra, generally integrated extremely well with the local community. While occasionally there will be initial resistance, things have settled down. This particular property in Fraser has been the subject of considerable controversy. The people who run this facility, who I note again have in the past had funding approved by an Alliance Treasurer, were extremely distressed that their property was being made the subject of media speculation.
It is, as has been made publicly clear, a facility that operates as a women's shelter. As we know, although attitudes to domestic violence have changed and governments have stressed the importance of providing for protection from domestic violence, there are people in this community who would offer violence to those using this facility. The group that is running it was very distressed that they had been put at risk by these sensation-seeking, headline-seeking attacks. I hope that after today, when I am confident the Assembly will reject this motion, the Liberal Party will desist from its attacks on SAAP programs. It is out of step with Liberal parties at the State or Territory level throughout Australia; it is out of step even with its Federal colleagues - although they are wanting to take a hard Right view on things, I am not aware of any attack on SAAP by their Federal colleagues; and they are sadly out of step with reality.
Our consultative process, which is the precept for this attack on SAAP, is more advanced than any other consultative process anywhere in Australia. It is considerably more advanced than the process in New South Wales. Any criticism you make of our program should be a double criticism of your colleagues in New South Wales; yet they seem to think it is appropriate. It is a process that has been subject to full scrutiny on at least two occasions by the Commonwealth Ombudsman. In relation to the particular property Mr Cornwell has been beating up on, the Commonwealth Ombudsman undertook a comprehensive investigation, the results of which I have tabled, which confirms that what the Government has done has been appropriate and proper.
SAAP services are a vital community service. They fill a need in this community that previously had been unmet. In relation to domestic violence, they fill a particularly sensitive need in the community. They deserve the full support of all members. They deserve the full support of all political parties, which they seem to get everywhere in Australia but here. They are administered, as the Ombudsman has said, with appropriate sensitivity to the privacy and special needs of the tenants in supported accommodation and the neighbours. Tenants in SAAP programs ought be treated no differently from any other residents in this community. Under this Government, and I would say under Liberal governments in other parts of Australia, they are not treated any differently. Under this local Liberal Party, they would apparently be treated as second-class citizens, and that is shameful.
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