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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 10 Hansard (Wednesday, 25 August 2004) . . Page.. 4186 ..

The government is working hard to assist working parents. It recently announced a payroll tax exemption to encourage private sector employers to provide paid parental leave. We have seen the passage of the industrial manslaughter legislation.

Mrs Burke: Yes. Is the business community happy about that?

MS GALLAGHER: We have reviewed and repealed the outdated Dangerous Goods Act and replaced it with the new Dangerous Substances Act.

Mrs Burke: They have all embraced that one!

MS GALLAGHER: Well nobody has left the country, I must say.

Mrs Burke: No, not yet. You wait.

MS GALLAGHER: Well, it has been in place for a fair while. I think a mass exodus would have happened by now. I am not quite sure where everybody is going to go.

The government developed and passed extensive amendments to the Occupational Health and Safety Act to improve compliance with duties to provide a safe and healthy workplace. A nationally agreed ban on the use of all forms of asbestos through regulations made in December 2003 has been implemented. In relation to improving health and safety outcomes in the public sector, we have just recorded a 2.2 per cent decrease in the ACT government’s workers compensation premium rate.

They are just some of the achievements across portfolios. Of course, I have not touched on children, youth and family support. There has been a lot of discussion around this area of my portfolio. In the last 12 months we have created the Office for Children, Youth and Family Support and increased funding by over 30 per cent to the whole office. In relation to child protection, funding has risen by 80 per cent. We have had extensive consultations in preparation for the ACT’s first children’s plan, where approximately 12,000 Canberrans were consulted. Of course, a significant proportion of children were consulted. This plan will direct and focus our services and programs for children aged from birth to 12 years.

We have had a review of the child protection system. This, of course, has come with the whole range of an implementation framework, which we are working on as well and about which members are very well informed. We have also seen the establishment of 186 new early childhood places across Canberra. This has been achieved through capital upgrades and budget initiatives, including the building of the Gungahlin Children’s Centre and the expansion of six early childhood centres.

The parents as teachers home visiting program has been expanded to Gungahlin. The program provides regular home visits and group information sessions for families with children up to three years of age.

There are new positions in the unit focusing on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander issues within the Office for Children, Youth and Family Support, to provide support for carers of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. We have developed the

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