Page 3468 - Week 08 - Thursday, 18 August 2011

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(b) taking evidence from witnesses, including the authors of the Commission’s report;

(d) reviewing any other relevant material;

(e) considering any other matters the committee considers relevant;

(f) making recommendations to the Assembly; and

(g) reporting on progress to the Legislative Assembly from time to time as it sees fit.

Just to address the amendments to the motion as printed on the notice paper, they take out reference to the Oakton report, which I am pleased to say the government has now provided, and make this motion a lot cleaner. And I have had discussions with Ms Hunter about an amendment that she will be moving, which I welcome.

There is no better way to sum up the catastrophic failure of the Minister for Children and Young People than to share a few quotes from the ACT youth justice system, a report to the ACT Legislative Assembly by the Human Rights Commission and Children and Young People Commissioner. The first quote comes from a staff member:

… staff were not valued and taken care of, particularly when there was a major incident and/or a serious assault on staff.

Further:

We were all really tired and we didn’t have time to work on their behaviours. We were in crisis the whole time.

And from a young person subject to segregation:

There’s no education in Coree, it’s not fair. Nothing to do, didn’t even get a magazine to read until after a week, couldn’t go to school, just had work brought in after a while

We live in a democratic society with a proud history on human rights and, as a member of the ACT Legislative Assembly, I am proud to have contributed to bringing this matter to the attention of the Assembly and the Canberra community. And while reading these submissions, though not surprised, given the information brought to my attention prior to this inquiry, I came to the view that this highlights the disgraceful negligence those opposite should never have let happen. I fear the consequences, had I and my colleagues in the Canberra Liberals not been persistent in our requests for some time.

It is interesting that my staff have asked me to demonstrate this to you. Yesterday Ms Burch came in here and said, “The Canberra Liberals are not interested.” Here are

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