Page 689 - Week 03 - Tuesday, 23 March 1993
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Madam Speaker, the last three months have been particularly painful for the many people waiting for the Adoption Bill to be implemented. I wish to thank those people for their contributions to the inquiry process and for their patience. I express sincere thanks also to the ACT government officials for their responses to the committee's needs in very hurried and pressured circumstances. I also thank the secretary of the committee, Greg McIntosh, and the committee staff. They pulled out all stops in getting the inquiry done on time and, I believe, in at least one case cancelled leave. They performed their duties in a most professional and efficient manner at all times. Madam Speaker, I also take this opportunity to acknowledge the contribution to the work of the Social Policy Committee by Ms Szuty, who we in this place are aware elected to be discharged from the committee from 16 March. I thank her for her contributions to the committee. I am particularly pleased, Madam Speaker, that this report has satisfied most, if not all, of the major concerns raised by members of the committee without changing the integrity or the importance of the Bill, and I have pleasure in commending the report to the Assembly.
MS SZUTY (9.24): Madam Speaker, I wish to speak briefly to the report of the Social Policy Committee on the Adoption Bill 1992, bearing in mind that there will be further opportunities for me to speak when specific amendments are brought forward for consideration by this Assembly, most likely tomorrow. Madam Speaker, much has been made of the many years of consultation and negotiation undertaken by many people in the preparation of this Adoption Bill. The results of that work are, I believe, self-evident in what is a piece of comprehensive and complex legislation comprising some 121 clauses in eight distinct parts.
Concern has continually been expressed to me that the introduction of the most eagerly awaited components of the legislation relating to access to both non-identifying and identifying information should not have been delayed by the deliberations of the Social Policy Committee on the Bill. However, the fact remains that, if the Government had chosen a different path for the development of adoption legislation and concentrated its efforts on reforming these provisions as a priority several years ago, we would not have experienced the frustration and distress that we have in recent times.
I have stated in the introduction to my additional comments in the report that the lengthy consultations which have occurred over many years on the Adoption Bill have involved adoptees, adoptive parents and birth parents coming to terms with the adoption process from three different perspectives. During the committee's deliberations I came to understand these perspectives much more fully. It is important that we as legislators fully understand the distinct perspectives from which adoptees, adoptive parents and birth parents approach the adoption process. I also believe that, despite the consensus reached over many clauses of the Bill and the compromises made by particular individuals and groups in the process, adoption will remain an area of interest and concern for many people in the community for many years to come. This situation is healthy, as legislation should always be able to be amended in the future as society changes and develops and as views about particular issues change.
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