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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 09 Hansard (Tuesday, 17 August 2004) . . Page.. 3707 ..

consultants will be on site to inspect for wildlife before, during and after felling. Can you tell the Assembly how you are ensuring that, in fact, those commitments are being met?

MR WOOD: To the best of my knowledge, the commitments are being met. I have had no comment from either the community or the Department of Urban Services of their not being met. Given the interest of many people in the community, and particularly in that area, I would have thought I would be told fairly quickly if they were not being met. From my last report, I understand that two people are on hand from the prevention of cruelty society—whether they are there all the time I do not know—and that the designated officers are marking and noting the trees. Ms Tucker, you may have something else to tell me. I will be interested to hear it.

MS TUCKER: I was interested in how you are monitoring it. I have a supplementary question. Can you take this on notice? There have been concerns expressed that, on—

MR SPEAKER: Come to the question, please, Ms Tucker.

MS TUCKER: The question is: can you confirm whether on 5 August 2004 no checking had happened for over five days, despite trees being felled? Can you confirm whether on 14 August the consultant left the site before carers arrived, leaving the latter unable to check the freshly felled trees themselves; and that, after carers signed off, machines were filmed felling trees—with no spotters, consultants or carers on site?

MR WOOD: Yes, Mr Speaker, I will do that.

Schools—bullying

MRS DUNNE: My question is to the minister for education. Minister, on 19 February 2003, you wrote to a constituent who had complained to your predecessor about bullying, humiliating and overbearing behaviour towards members of a faculty at an ACT government high school by a newly promoted senior teacher. In the letter to this constituent you said that the new principal and staff of the department of education would be working to “ensure that good support structures would be put in place to assist” the victimised teacher’s return to school after stress leave. You also said that you were satisfied that the department had put in place appropriate processes for dealing with the matters raised.

Minister, if that is the case, why has there been since then a series of teachers who have sought to remove themselves from the direct supervision of this bullying teacher? Why, after the assurances that you gave to this constituent that the problem would not arise again, has another teacher in the employ of the ACT government been forced this year to take leave without pay from the ACT government teaching service and seek employment elsewhere to avoid contact with this bullying teacher?

MS GALLAGHER: In some ways, I think that with questions like that it would be useful to give a bit more detail before you come to the Assembly if you are wanting an answer to your question. It relates to a letter I signed on 19 February. I sign lots of letters. A lot of them are to do with the education department and quite a number are to do with human resource issues for teachers within the Department of Education and

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