Page 3234 - Week 09 - Tuesday, 18 August 2009
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To this end, I am publicly calling for written submissions which address the issues raised in the report or any other valuable contributions that people may wish to make on the further development of the Human Rights Act 2004. My department will also be consulting with human rights experts, legal practitioners, public authorities, including government departments, and others to consider the recommendations that have been made and prepare a response and possible action plan for the government’s consideration.
While the government’s commitment to human rights is strong, we should not rest on our laurels. I anticipate that not all of the recommendations contained in the report will have support nor be agreed to by government. In an economic downturn, recommendations such as those made by the project team will need to be considered in the context of competing priorities. I am, however, encouraged that the report is a fair and independent assessment of how we are travelling as a human rights jurisdiction.
The review work of the project has provided guidance and direction as to where the government might seek to invest its energies and resources in considering advancing the work of the Human Rights Act and improving the overall outcome for individual rights in the territory. Further consultation will ensure that the government’s future work on human rights is well informed and undertaken strategically on the basis of evidence and community support.
In tabling the work of the ACT Human Rights Act research project, I wish to acknowledge the other members of the project, including Gabrielle McKinnon, the project’s research fellow and director, and Renuka Thilagaratnam, who replaces Ms McKinnon in this role and will continue with the work on the ESC rights project, and the students and others who contributed to the research. I wish to also acknowledge members of the reference group who facilitated the conduct of the research. I commend the report to the Assembly.
Debate (on motion by Mr Rattenbury) adjourned to the next sitting.
Paper
Mr Corbell presented the following paper:
ACT Criminal Justice—Statistical Profile 2009—June quarter.
Public Accounts—Standing Committee
Report 15––government response
MR CORBELL (Molonglo—Attorney-General, Minister for the Environment, Climate Change and Water, Minister for Energy and Minister for Police and Emergency Services) (3.34): For the information of members, I present the following paper:
Public Accounts—Standing Committee—Report 15—Auditor-General’s Report No 4 of 2005: Courts Administration—Government response.
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