Page 1538 - Week 04 - Thursday, 7 April 2011
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Meaningful Aboriginal involvement in park management is evidenced by Aboriginal contributions to current educational, research and conservation programs in Namadgi. In 2008, a project was established to assess the condition of the Namadgi rock art sites and develop monitoring and maintenance protocols and skills to assist their management.
I regret that I am almost out of time, but by way of conclusion I can assure members that the government takes this issue particularly seriously. It is a report that was some time in the making, but it is a most complex issue and I think that some of the commentary today, most particularly in relation to management, is not reflected by visitor experience and clearly at one level I think is very unfair to the passion and the commitment which parks members at TAMS show in the management of Namadgi.
Question resolved in the affirmative.
Education, Training and Youth Affairs—Standing Committee
Report 5—government response
Debate resumed from 15 February 2011, on motion by Mr Barr:
That the Assembly take note of the paper.
MR DOSZPOT (Brindabella) (11.28): Mr Speaker, I must echo your and Mrs Dunne’s comments on the previous motion: in view of the time lapse—in this case the report came out last October and the minister responded in March—it would be more appropriate in fact to be getting an update from the minister on the progress the government has made in the implementation of the recommendations of the Standing Committee on Education, Training and Youth Affairs report, Needs of ACT students with a disability of October 2010. However, having said that, I thank the Standing Committee on Education, Training and Youth Affairs for looking into the needs of ACT students with a disability. This is an important matter and it is in need of further consideration by this Assembly.
As for my earlier comments on the time lapse, it is worth noting Minister Barr’s belated response to this report, in March, after Minister Burch’s tardy formal response to the Love has its limits report the other day, a deadline extension she had set for herself. I suppose, to use Ms Burch’s own phrase, Mr Barr’s “calendar head” finally hit him today.
We have noted the government’s response to the 30 recommendations that the committee has made, and the Canberra Liberals will continue to fight for the rights of the most disadvantaged members of our school community. We need only to be mindful of the minister’s treatment of this community last October, when it was decided, without proper consultation, to find efficiency savings by axing support services that were in place for students with a disability. And this occurred only a month after the minister released the government’s strategic plan for disability in ACT public schools for 2010-12.
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