Page 1761 - Week 06 - Thursday, 19 May 1994
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Adoption Information Service
MS ELLIS: My question is directed to the Deputy Chief Minister in his capacity as Minister for Housing and Community Services. Could the Minister please inform the Assembly of the degree to which the new Adoption Information Service has found acceptance over its initial period of operation?
MR LAMONT: I thank the member for her question. This initiative of the Follett Labor Government has now been in operation for just over a year. The Adoption Information Service in the Family Services Branch was set up as a requirement of the ACT Adoption Act 1993, which came into effect in July 1993. The new legislation gives adopted persons, birth parents and birth relatives and adoptive parents the right to access identifying information about each other once the adopted child reaches the age of 18. The legislation protects the privacy of persons affected by adoption through the mechanism of a veto on contact if desired by any party. The Adoption Information Service processes applications for information and contact vetoes. It also provides general information and counselling in relation to adoption issues and assists with reunions between adopted persons and their birth parents through a mediation service. Since July 1993 the AIS has received or facilitated 1,184 inquiries, 172 applications for identifying information, 38 veto registrations, 29 reunions, 398 phone counselling sessions and 95 face-to-face counselling sessions.
The changes to the law in relation to access to information appear to have been well accepted by the Canberra community. In the past 11 months there has been only one complaint about the way information has been conveyed, and this matter was debated in full in the Assembly on 2 March. Reunions facilitated by the unit have been described as varied in their outcomes. All parties, however, have stated that it has been better to know all, so that they can integrate that experience and get on with their lives. Madam Speaker, as I said at the beginning of the answer to the member's question, this service is greatly appreciated by those people who have been able to avail themselves of it. It is a great initiative of the Follett Labor Government, and I look forward to its continued success over the coming years.
State Bank of New South Wales
MR STEVENSON: My question is addressed to the Chief Minister. Six months ago in this Assembly I raised a matter of public importance about the State Bank of New South Wales. The reason I raised it is that the ACT Government uses the State Bank as our bankers. There are many Canberra investors in the State Bank. There are many clients of the State Bank in Canberra. The Chief Minister at the time, when I went into great detail, said - and I quote from Hansard:
... I will look very closely at the issues that Mr Stevenson has raised.
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