Page 2929 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 14 September 1994
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represent the multicultural community, young people, Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islanders, and women. In the 1994-95 budget, community submissions canvassed a wide range of broad social policy issues and options for the budget, as well as specific issues concerned with special interest groups. Fourteen substantial submissions were received from peak organisations.
In conjunction with the budget consultation process, Madam Speaker, the Government has undertaken the ACT householder surveys as an integral part of its economic planning process. The first survey was conducted in 1991 and provided a unique opportunity for all ACT householders to air their views and to have input into the planning of services for the ACT. The survey provides a large-scale mechanism for community consultation and is conducted every two years, with the next survey due in 1995.
Madam Speaker, the Community Law Reform Committee is another example of an effective consultative process undertaken by the Government. It is a ministerial committee which operates under a formal constitution and is quite independent of the Government. Its broad-based community representation distinguishes the committee from interstate reform agencies, whose members are generally drawn from the legal profession. The committee uses a number of strategies to maximise community input, including education about the issue, through carefully prepared and researched discussion papers; wide discussion of information, through a range of means such as talkbacks, focus groups, and one-on-one discussions; and public discussions and hearings. It is unfortunate that our colleague with the Mickey Mouse tie representing his party, Mr Stevenson, is not here in person to hear this, because it takes up some of the issues that he was talking about when he was trying to indicate the breadth of opportunity which exists for public consultation and the different methodologies that can be used. Madam Speaker, this approach ensures that law reform in the ACT proceeds in close consultation with the ACT community.
Madam Speaker, I will, in the short amount of time available to me, concentrate on a number of specific issues in areas of my portfolio responsibility. Obviously, those consultative mechanisms do change to reflect the nature and type of service provided and the client groups, the constituent groups in our community - as the Chief Minister has outlined - that may avail themselves of those types of government services or are affected by decisions of government in any particular way.
Therefore, you need to have, as outlined in the consultation protocol, a range of general principles; but you need to allow yourself to be adaptable enough to ensure that you are inclusive in this process. One of the things that I always hear from the other side of this house is, "Yes, on this particular matter you engaged in consultation, but you took no notice of this particular group". That is simply factually incorrect. There is a difference between public consultation and agreeing to everything that everybody says to you. That is what the role of the Leader of the Opposition is. The role of the Leader of the Opposition is to agree with everything that anybody ever says to you, and she does it extremely well. She has only to be outside, with a television camera around and a microphone under the mouth, and, whammo, we have a hospital in Tuggeranong; on a tour, and, whammo, we have a paediatric unit at Calvary; or, whammo, we have
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