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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 8 Hansard (27 June) . . Page.. 2300 ..

MR STEFANIAK: There is a wide range of programs for children during the holidays, and they have been advertised to a great extent over the last two weeks. In terms of exactly what programs are available for children with disabilities, I am happy to take that on board and get back to you, Ms Reilly. As you know, for a number of years, we ran programs during the school holidays at Christmas time. But, in terms of the actual holiday programs now, there is a wide range of holiday programs, and I will get back to you in relation to your question.

MS REILLY: You have just reminded us all of the fiasco that happened over the Christmas holidays, and here we are six months later - - -

MR SPEAKER: No preamble; a supplementary question, Ms Reilly.

MS REILLY: It is part of my question, Mr Speaker.

Mr Kaine: Just ask your question.

MS REILLY: If you give me a chance, Mr Kaine, I will.

Mr Kaine: You have been on your feet for some time.

MR SPEAKER: Just proceed, Ms Reilly, with the supplementary.

MS REILLY: Thank you, Mr Speaker. I hope that I have the opportunity to do so without interjection. There was a fiasco at Christmas time. That was six months ago. At that time, you promised that you would speak with the parents of children with disabilities and consult with them so that this never occurred again. Here we are, nearly at the next lot of school holidays after Easter, and still there has been no consultation. When will you consult with those parents?

MR STEFANIAK: Far from what you are saying about no consultation, Ms Reilly, we have been conducting a special education review, with massive consultation with parents. Included in that is school holiday programs. There has been considerable consultation already. In relation to that, the parents and some of the groups were going to be consulted, I think, a little too quickly and asked for the consultant to come a little bit further down the track. I arranged that for them. There has been extensive consultation. There will be more consultation in relation to that, Ms Reilly.

In relation to the summer programs you mentioned, at my request and direction, all the parents involved in the programs were surveyed in relation to how they found them over the last summer, and invariably the comments were very favourable about the inclusive nature of the programs. In fact, I got a letter back from the president of the Autism Association, in which she wrote:

I understand from a number of parents who have a child with autism, and who attended a centre to participate in the Summer Program, that their child was well catered for in each particular setting.

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