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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 08 Hansard (Thursday, 5 August 2004) . . Page.. 3496 ..

MRS BURKE: Mr Speaker, if I could comment on that: I am not making imputations against Ms Gallagher.

MR SPEAKER: I did not hear you say that.

MRS BURKE: I am merely stating the facts. I will continue. It is very appropriate that now we have some of the chronology put on the table in simple form. On 15 January 2003 the ACT government announced that ACT family services had not been providing reports about allegations of child abuse of wards of the state to the Community Advocate—I think Mr Hargreaves has alluded to that—as required by the Children and Young People Act 1999. Cheryl Vardon, the Commissioner for Public Administration, commenced an inquiry into this failure to follow appropriate process.

Mr Quinlan: The government initiated the inquiry.

MRS BURKE: Yes, under pressure, Mr Quinlan. I did not know that child protection was your area of expertise.

Professor Kim Oates and Ms Gwenn Murray joined Commissioner Vardon’s team on 21 January 2004. This question had been brought to the attention of the government for at least a year. I am not saying that; the chronology states that, Ministers, if you are listening. The Community Advocate, Ms Heather McGregor, met with Mr Corbell in October 2002 to discuss the issue. While he sought a briefing, which stated the problem was being addressed, Mr Corbell took no further action to ensure that that was the case.

It was also mentioned in the Community Advocate’s annual report for 2001-02 that the minister responsible for the Community Advocate, the Attorney-General, Mr Stanhope, took no action. Why? He openly admitted that he did not read the report. If he did not, why didn’t his department or his advisers? When asked about this failure, the Chief Minister stated he did not have time to read reports. The Community Advocate also advised the head of Mr Stanhope’s department about the problems, but Mr Keady did not act. So how many people did know yet did not know? In March 2003, Greg Cornwell MLA asked:

What action is being taken against those who fail to fulfil their legal obligations under mandatory reporting?

That came about as a result of Mr Cornwell being on the CSSE committee, and he raised his concerns in that way. Why didn’t the government notice then or respond then? It was advised that disciplinary action might be taken against those who failed to do this. A report by the community services and social equity committee into the rights, interests and wellbeing of children and young people found that the government had failed to meet its obligations in 2004, stating:

… the Committee is extremely concerned at reports Family Services has failed to comply with its obligations under the Act.

The committee recommended that performance contracts in the department require that these statutory obligations be complied with. Ms Gallagher delivered a reply to the

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