Page 2498 - Week 07 - Tuesday, 1 July 2008
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Before I close, let me say that speakers earlier in the debate have raised some concerns. Mrs Dunne, I think, raised concerns about the size of the bill. I think she used the word ‘clunky’, although I do not think she used it in her speech. This was a policy matter which we looked at very closely and, in fact, had many lengthy discussions, and not too many arguments, about whether you put everything in together or you have separate acts.
In my discussions I felt that, because we were having such strong principles up-front in the act on the rights and interests of children and young people being paramount, and the fact that I fought to have youth justice elements remain in this bill and not become part of an addition to corrections legislation, it was more appropriate to keep everything in the one bill, under the same principles, with the same protection. I do not think the fact that it is all in the one place will make it more complicated or harder to read. When members of the judiciary got involved in the consultation they requested that, as much as possible, the sentencing areas be linked back to other legislation, and we have certainly responded to that, so that that is the case.
So I feel very strongly that it is appropriate to have all the laws relating to children and young people sitting within legislation that is founded by and named the Children and Young People Act, rather than sitting in separate bits as an add-on to adult legislation or matters that are traditionally adult matters.
I think Mrs Dunne’s concerns on light work are addressed in amendments that I have already circulated.
In relation to the voluntary and mandatory reporting, Mrs Dunne and I are on the same page on this. The idea is that we can differentiate reports of concern about children—
Mrs Dunne: It is rare.
MS GALLAGHER: Listening to your argument, it is a rare and quite frightening moment. Reports of concern about children can be separated from those child protection reports so that when they come in they can assess whether these reports are of such concern that they need to go to that next stage or whether they can be dealt with in another way. That is so that we can ensure that the reports that get investigated and ultimately substantiated, which a percentage of them were, are the ones that are being focused on.
I do not believe that we will see a big increase in mandatory reporting under this scheme. We already deal more than any other jurisdiction. I think we have more mandated reporting here than anywhere else in terms of our share. I think we have already seen the big increase relating to mandatory reporting.
Dr Foskey spoke about resources. This is something that we look at every year in terms of our budget bids. We keep a very close eye on this area. We have increased our funding in this area—and I think Mr Seselja raised this—by 87 per cent over the last four years. The majority of that came in response to the Vardon review and that
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