Page 2480 - Week 08 - Wednesday, 29 June 2005
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with its own laws; all of its own laws, but in particular the Human Rights Act, which the Chief Minister has touted as his great project for changing the face of Canberra and bringing human rights to all. It might be helpful if the government actually complied with its obligations under the Human Rights Act. Clearly, through the estimates process, it has been demonstrated that it does not. In addition, we saw section 76 of the Education Act being breached, not complied with. So there has been a bit of form here from this minister and a bit of form from this government.
In the 30 seconds I have remaining, I would like to point out that the minister is no longer on training wheels. With regard to the Vardon report, everyone was able to write it off by saying, “Katy is a new minister.” It has been a few years now. There are serious issues here.
MR SPEAKER: Order! I brought the issue of titles to your attention a moment ago. Please do not persist with that.
MR SESELJA: Sorry. Everyone said, “Ms Gallagher is new.” She is not new any more and it is time she started complying with her responsibilities as a minister of this government.
MS GALLAGHER (Molonglo—Minister for Education and Training, Minister for Children, Youth and Family Support, Minister for Women and Minister for Industrial Relations) (5.20): I thank Mr Seselja for giving us the opportunity to discuss Quamby in the Assembly today. Mr Speaker, the programs and the operations at Quamby should be at the forefront of the mind of everybody in this Assembly. It is where we have our community’s most vulnerable children—not inmates, not detainees, but children—and young people housed for certain periods due to their own individual situations.
It is at the forefront of this government’s mind in terms of making sure that we are providing the best possible services and programs within an environment that constrains us and presents some real challenges as to how to meet the needs of children and young people in Quamby. I am glad that we have the opportunity to go through that. I should say that we will not be supporting Mr Seselja’s motion and I have circulated an amendment. I move:
Omit all words after “That this Assembly”, substitute:
“acknowledges:
(1) the $40 million commitment the ACT Government has made to building a new youth detention facility in the ACT;
(2) the efforts being undertaken by staff at Quamby and from other organisations to ensure the individual needs of young people living at Quamby are being met; and
(3) the significant increases in resources from the ACT Government to Quamby to address the challenges presented by the existing facility.”.
The reason behind that is to acknowledge the efforts that are under way to meet the needs of children and young people at Quamby. The amendment is different from Mr Seselja’s motion. Mr Seselja’s motion, even though he said it is not about who has
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