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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2002 Week 5 Hansard (7 May) . . Page.. 1263 ..

MR STANHOPE (continuing):

There is nothing to be gained from making politics out of those deaths; there is nothing to be gained from pointing the finger in relation to the circumstances of those deaths. Those are issues for the coroner, and they should be left there. But we have an obligation to put in place programs, policies and administrative structures that ensure we deliver the best possible outcomes. Gallop points the way.

But it is appropriate-and I cannot believe anybody is questioning this-that the recommendations which Justice Gallop made in relation to disability services be tested with experts in the field, such as Anne Cross, and with the sector. I would venture to say that there is not a single member of that broadly based Disability Reform Group I appointed who in any way begrudges the time taken by the Office of Disability, by Anne Cross or by themselves.

Mr Humphries: They are in the loop. That is why.

MR STANHOPE: So they are in the loop? Mr Humphries now condemns them in the same way he did the public servants. The Disability Reform Group, the 15 people working assiduously on their review of the recommendations, are in the loop, so their judgment is not to be trusted, says Mr Humphries. They are not objective, they are in the loop and they do not have the capacity to look at what service delivery models are best.

That is just outrageous. It is the community we are talking about. We have 15 people in the group who, through their organisations or individually, are at the heart of the delivery of disability services to people in this community, and you do not believe they have the capacity to look objectively at the recommendations. That is just outrageous. There is not a single member of that group who begrudges the time that is being taken to ensure that the community agrees with and supports the responses that government will make.

It was in that context that I also asked Mick Reid, an immediate past director-general of the New South Wales Department of Health, to look at the structures that we have in the ACT generally. It is quite obvious from the discussion and inquiries that have been held over the years about those structures that there are a range of views on whether or not we are well served by them. I expect to receive that report this week, certainly imminently, and I intend to respond to it within a very short space of time. The report is also informed by a submission from the Disability Reform Group on the Gallop recommendations in relation to an appropriate structure for the delivery of disability services.

We will be making major decisions about the delivery of disability services a la Gallop recommendations within a number of weeks. The opposition is constantly putting out the hocus-pocus of no response before September, and I have just heard Mr Smyth say December. That is utter nonsense. The Disability Reform Group propose to provide periodic reports to me. (Extension of time granted.) It will be providing me with reports from time to time in relation to the recommendations, and it is the government's intention to deal with those as they are received.

In relation to the ridiculous challenge implying that we are not in a position to support any of the recommendations-because it is not being made, and it could be in the budget context-as I have said time and time again, the Labor Party recognised long ago the level of unmet need in a whole range of sectors. We recognised that before the election

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