Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .

None . . Page.. 1403 ..

I was interested to see that only two recommendations emerged from the inquiry, but I do not think that is the significant factor about reports of this kind. In a debate on a matter of public importance yesterday I said that if we did a survey of all ACT government agencies we would collectively get a pretty good picture of what this community is looking for and what it expects of government. Public servants who are in daily communication through their service organisations with the community, with these organisations that are mentioned in here, know what the problems are, and some of that sifts through the system and finds its way into government programs and government budgets. Reports of this kind of review by Assembly committees are a good way of keeping in touch with the community and allowing people, consistently and continuously, to make their views known in a formal way. The views are not new. As I said, I did not find anything in this report that I have not read in many other reports. I have people coming to see me and calling me on the telephone all the time, and these are the issues that they are talking about; but I think this is just another way of bringing issues to the Government.

Any of us who read this report are once again confronted with the range of issues that plague our community. Some of those things can be dealt with by government. Some of them, I suspect, are not easily susceptible to resolution by government or anybody else. They represent social problems which might take 10 to 15 years of government legislation and changes imposed by government on society before you can affect the way people behave. Social violence is one such issue. We cannot legislate tomorrow and say, “All social violence will stop”. We could legislate, but it would not work. One way you can stop it is by conducting education programs, starting with children when they are young and explaining to them that violence is unacceptable in any form; that it is unnecessary, and it is unacceptable. Over many years, with such a program, supported by government, you can effect a change in society's attitudes to these things.

Some of these things could be rectified if only we had a bottomless pit of money. Some of these issues could be dealt with this year. Regrettably, we know that that is not true. Organisations out there, the ones that Ms Horodny talked about earlier and that she is associated with, largely made up of volunteers, work hard and long to achieve something for the disadvantaged in our society. We all know what those organisations are, and we know the difficulties under which they work. I know that if we had an inexhaustible supply of money and other resources I would be asking the Chief Minister and Treasurer to solve those problems this year, and I know that she would want to do it. Why would she not want to do it if the money was there? Regrettably, it is not, and resources have to be spread, in some cases very thinly, across the whole spectrum of human activity.

As I said, there are only two recommendations in the report. I am sure that the Government will take those recommendations and consider them carefully, but this document is more important for the fact that it allows the community to express their views. It allows their views to be recorded, and it allows us, sitting in this chamber, to read the report and refresh our memories, very often, about those things of which we should be aware. I commend the committee on its work. I know that for some of the committee members it might have been a very interesting learning experience.

Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .