Page 736 - Week 02 - Thursday, 25 February 2010
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The second authorises the chief executive to disclose a reporter’s details to police for the purposes of investigating an alleged criminal offence against a child or young person. It also enables the chief executive to provide a reporter’s name to the police if requested in the investigation of an offence disclosed in a child concern report referred to the police by the chief executive.
Mr Speaker, these amendments are made because, like many new pieces of legislation, it takes a little time for issues such as those identified in this bill to emerge. The department’s officers are to be commended for their continuing vigilance and ensuring that legislation operates smoothly, efficiently and effectively, always in the context that the best interests of the ACT’s children and young people are kept paramount.
Perhaps, though, it is also a consequence of this ACT Labor government trying to tie up everything in a single piece of legislation which is almost 1,000 pages long. As I have said before, legislation of this length can be problematic, as evidenced by the number of amendments already made to the Children and Young People Act since it was passed in 2008. Nonetheless, Mr Speaker, the amendments contemplated in this bill today are responsible, and the Canberra Liberals are happy to support them.
MS HUNTER (Ginninderra—Parliamentary Convenor, ACT Greens) (12.13): I would like to thank the minister for bringing this bill to the Assembly. As we know and have discussed regularly in this place, the protection and wellbeing of our children is of vital importance and incorporates families, schools, childcare, healthcare and the wider community.
This bill, as members have noted, makes changes to the exemptions for childcare providers, adjusts the arrangements about sensitive information and amends the provisions for the transfer of information to the police. The Children and Young People Act of 2008 is a very large and comprehensive piece of legislation.
Its contents cover the entire spectrum of the life of a child or young person in the ACT from birth to adulthood and even beyond. Given the scope of this document, it is not unreasonable to expect that the government will have to make some changes, or tweak the legislation, to aid in implementation of the laws, always keeping in mind the best interests of the child.
The changes proposed to the temporary exemptions to childcare standards outlined in this bill will provide greater flexibility to childcare centres to provide continuity of service during events such as centre upgrades and staff turnover. We all know that staff turnover is a big problem for the industry, which is why things like portable long service leave are so important to ensure that staff in childcare centres are receiving conditions that are enjoyed by others.
The act currently outlines conditions on temporary exemptions which ensure that the exemption is not likely to prejudice the safety and educational, social and developmental wellbeing of a child or children being cared for by the service; that the exemption is not likely to impact on the childcare service’s promotion of the
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