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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 02 Hansard (Thursday, 4 March 2004) . . Page.. 720 ..

not knowing what was going on when this committee has clearly reported it now, as well as in August 2003?

When we questioned the Community Advocate in hearings and were told that things were fine—because she was also told they were fine—it smacked to me of the apportioning of blame over the bushfire situation last year. I think we will allow the coronial inquiry to finish before we make further comments on that one.

I read on:

28.28 While the Committee acknowledges that Family Services is now in the middle of a Re-Focus, and that there are some measures now in place to prevent these issues from occurring in the future, the Committee is very concerned that the situation as described above by the OCA (and other witnesses) occurred in the first place.

Thank God this committee has an excellent committee secretary in Jane Carmody, who assists this committee in an exemplary fashion, putting so concisely the concerns that all members of this committee unanimously had about this issue. It was very well headed by our chair, Mr Hargreaves, who has, no less than we do, an exemplary attitude to the interests and welfare of our young people and sets a fine example for the rest of this committee.

I reiterate that this is not against you caseworkers or staff, who are diligent, responsible, dedicated people and who are going through a very tough time because of the irresponsible behaviour and attitude of a few. It is not about you out there; we know you are doing a good job. We know that you care about our children. We know that you will continue to care about our children and that you will remain dedicated.

This is about those empire-building, egomaniacal people who believe that they can continue operating the same way they have for many years, irrespective of who is in government because they are preserving their little castles and their empires. The time has come. The empire is going to crumble, and it is no longer acceptable for you to get away with the violations against our children. We will no longer stand by, as we have not for many years, and allow negligent treatment and irresponsibility in relation to our children. Enough is enough.

MR CORNWELL (11.18): I rise to support the committee’s report, as a member of the committee. I will confine my remarks to recommendations 1 and 2, which relate to compliance with the statutory obligations of senior staff in the Department of Education, Youth and Family Services. I also support the chairman’s comments, in relation to recommendation 2, that the committee recommends that the government amend the annual report directions to provide a specific section on issues of significant concern for agencies with an external security function.

The matter of child abuse has been considered on a number of occasions by the committee. As Mrs Cross pointed out, the evidence of this concern is in the transcripts of the committee hearings of 21 and 27 February 2003, 4 December 2003 and 22 January 2004. In each transcript there is evidence of committee members raising questions about accountability and, therefore, statutory obligations. Further, I refer to questions on the notice paper—which I claim, immodestly, as mine—of 4 March, 6 May and

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