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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 01 Hansard (Thursday, 12 February 2004) . . Page.. 321 ..

of letters from the OCA to the department saying, “Where is it, where is it, where is it?” Indeed, there was a stream of letters even after the election.

That is the reason why the committee wanted to get this thing on the table, and I have to say to you that the committee has achieved its aims. My concern was that the CEO of the Department of Education, Youth and Family Services had not discharged her statutory obligations. I am confident of the recent opinion of the OCA, which the minister has given us and shared in writing, that none of the seven kids are unsafe.

It is indicative of the front-line officers of the Department of Education, Youth and Family Services, who have the welfare of their charges in hand, that they are actually doing it. What was happening was that the statutory obligation was not being discharged, and I congratulate the Chief Minister and the minister for education on their action of bringing accountability to the non-discharge of statutory obligation, reviewing the area and ensuring that extra funds are provided to address any shortfall.

You can argue the toss on how long it took. How long is a piece of string? I can tell you that the action of these ministers has been immensely speedy, when you consider the five years of neglect that went on before it. The points raised in the report of the Standing Committee on Community Services and Social Equity had been addressed properly. Mrs Burke is spreading fear. The ministers are making sure that the kids are safe. There is a big difference there.

From 1996, those opposite had stewardship for five years and nothing happened. Contrast this with the mere 12 months that Ms Gallagher has been in this portfolio. Contrast this with the number of weeks that she was aware of what happened and what she did: the CEO has been transferred to another position, and independent experts have been brought in from outside the territory to review the problem—it is in the hands of the Commissioner for Public Administration—and a lot of money has been brought forward to make sure the issue is resourced properly.

She has acted to redress your deficiencies. Let’s get to the heart of this issue. The real issue that the CSSE report talked about was a statutory deficiency, and it is now being addressed. The committee has achieved its aims, and I thank the ministers for achieving that. What are you criticising the minister and the Chief Minister—and me—for? For doing something about non-compliance?

Your record of five years of non-compliance is shameful. You spent five years oblivious of whether children in care were safe. The first thing this minister did was determine whether the kids were safe, and they are. This minister determined, through advice from the OCA, that the kids were safe and moved to make sure that they stayed that way. I congratulate her on her work.

MRS CROSS (4.08): Mr Deputy Speaker, I am sure that we all accord the highest priority to the protection of the child and that we are all concerned, even dismayed, at the lapses that have occurred in aspects of the administration of child protection. We all expect a rigorous examination of how those lapses were permitted to occur, and we all expect firm action to be taken where wrong conduct is identified. That is the point that we have reached at the moment. Undertakings have been given that the investigation of the Commissioner for Public Administration will be rigorous and that appropriate action

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