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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 6 Hansard (17 June) . . Page.. 1696 ..

MR HUMPHRIES (continuing):

This is the essence of the difference between some other members who have spoken in this debate and the Government. I believe that the central and driving force in this process should be the Domestic Violence Prevention Council, not the domestic violence project coordinator.

Mr Wood: I am happy about that.

MR HUMPHRIES: My view is that, if we accept that premise, the best course of action is to establish the council and let it determine the way in which the project coordinator's job is structured, and in turn filled, as the basis on which to proceed to fulfil the tasks that are outlined in the CLRC report. I know that members opposite are laughing about this and think that they know much better about this. I appreciate that you have been lobbied very heavily on the subject, but the fact of the matter is - - -

Ms Tucker: I have read the report.

MR HUMPHRIES: We all have read the report, I am sure, Ms Tucker, but - - -

Ms Tucker: How is the council going to do the work?

MR HUMPHRIES: Mr Speaker, the council will consist of people who have an interest and, to some extent, an expertise in this area and the goodwill to be able to sit down and determine how such a position would work. My view is that it is appropriate to establish that council and let it shape the way in which that task is to be performed.

To give an example of what I am talking about, it has been suggested to me that the draft strategy on domestic violence, which has been prepared already by the Women's Consultative Council, should be handed to the Domestic Violence Prevention Council as the final word, as it were, on the way in which domestic violence strategy should be implemented in the ACT. That view has been put to me by the Women's Consultative Council, with which I met a few weeks ago to talk about these issues. I have rejected that suggestion. I have said that the Domestic Violence Prevention Council should receive the document from the Women's Consultative Council but should be free to determine for itself whether that strategy is the basis on which they as a council proceed to implement policy in this area.

There is, in a sense, a question of where the onus lies. My view is that the onus has to be on the council. It has to have the capacity to make a decision about how the strategy works and how the domestic violence project coordinator works. My assessment is that establishing a position simultaneously with, or perhaps even slightly before, the establishment of the council itself leaves the council in the position of inheriting, to some extent, an established position, the terms of reference of which are determined by the prior appointment, not by the decisions of the council. That is the view of the Government.

We can debate this at some length, no doubt; but I notice it is 6 o'clock already, and I am not proposing that we do that tonight. What I am saying to members of this Assembly is that there are different views about the way this should work. It is open to the Assembly, as Mr Wood apparently proposes to do, to amend the legislation before the house to

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