Page 2476 - Week 08 - Wednesday, 29 June 2005
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Ms Gallagher: Exactly, February. Finally you got it right.
MR SESELJA: I have not got it wrong at any stage, but we will look into how you have got it wrong as we go on. Mr Speaker, it appears that progress in this area would be of great benefit to detainees of Quamby. The committee heard that young people who had been in Quamby wanted something to do during the day, that they wanted an income and that they wanted to have their boredom alleviated.
Programs around the areas of social competence and life skills would assist young people, once released, to assert greater control over themselves and their abilities to have an income, find work, return to study or even just cope more easily with mainstream society and the responsibilities that they have as members of our community. It is also clear that these young people have a responsibility to the community, so the broader community has a responsibility to these young people.
Mr Speaker, I acknowledge that the Quamby centre is to be replaced with a new facility and that money is contained in the budget to address that. Hopefully, by the end of this government’s term in office, the current facility, clearly unable to meet the standards required under the ACT’s Human Rights Act, will be replaced. I am aware of some of the history of the centre and its inadequacy over the years.
The minister stated in the estimates process that the facility was built by the Follett government in 1992. I have also heard it said in the past by members of this government that “we inherited the facility from you”, meaning the opposition. The classic way for this government of dealing with such issues is to say, “The Liberal government gave us this, but we are trying to change it.” For too long in this area and in other areas of government, ministers of the Stanhope government have been seeking to blame the past Liberal government for issues they have failed to deal with. That is an old, tired and worn out line.
Ms Gallagher: Because you did nothing.
MR SESELJA: You blamed us for all of Quamby and it was your government that started it. We are just trying to draw a line in the sand. Maybe it is time you actually started taking responsibility for what happens under your government.
Ms Gallagher: You did nothing.
Mr Stanhope: You were there for seven years, mate.
MR SPEAKER: Order, members! There should be an orderly debate, not a conversation.
MR SESELJA: Mr Speaker, this government has been in office for almost four years and the time for buck-passing is over.
Mr Stanhope: After your seven years.
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