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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 04 Hansard (Tuesday, 30 March 2004) . . Page.. 1355 ..

If there is a public interest in terms of the welfare of those young people and work is being done by the department, then the chief executive must not cancel the registration until all the problems have reached the point where they cannot be addressed. Hopefully I have addressed the concerns of the member.

MS TUCKER (9.23): The Greens will support these amendments. Amendment No 8 gives the home educators a month rather than a fortnight to respond to any matters of concern raised by the chief executive. While a fortnight might seem a reasonable time to require a response, if you include possible postage and travel time, it is tight. While 30 days is generous, it is also reasonable.

Amendment No 9 structures into the deregistration process of home education a requirement for the chief executive to pull back from deregistration where the home educator can demonstrate that they have rectified the problem and that they will comply. Such an amendment still leaves the decision in the hands of the chief executive and, in that context, offers a fairly reasonable balance and an encouragement for improved practice.

Amendments agreed to.

Clause 134, as amended, agreed to.

Clause 135.

MS DUNDAS (9.24): I move amendment No 10 circulated in my name [see schedule 2 at page 1375]. This amendment, which relates to a certificate of registration for home education, is almost consequential to an amendment which the Assembly has already supported. We have already spoken about home education taking part from a home base as opposed to mainly in the home. In order to make the clause more consistent with the wording that we have already put into the legislation, we are seeking to include in the certificate of registration for home education the address of the home base in which the home education will be carried out.

MS GALLAGHER (Minister for Education, Youth and Family Services, Minister for Women and Minister for Industrial Relations) (9.26): The government will be supporting Ms Dundas’s amendment No 10. It is consequential and includes language used in an amendment which we have just agreed to. So, in light of that, I will not be moving my amendment No 8.

Amendment agreed to.

Clause 135, as amended, agreed to.

Clause 136.

MS TUCKER (9.26): I move amendment No 5 circulated in my name [see schedule 4 at page 1382]. This reduces the time required for home educators to reregister from six months ahead of expiry to three months. As one can register for the first time immediately rather than six months ahead of time, and given that when you apply to

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