Page 4733 - Week 11 - Thursday, 20 October 2011
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Mrs Dunne: It is very interesting that she used the same words as the Chief Minister.
MS GALLAGHER: What are you suggesting, Mrs Dunne, with that highly inappropriate interjection, which I will not respond to? Yes, Cheryl Vardon has made some comments after, I presume, being asked by a journalist some questions. But they are views that I agree with, and I am worried about the view that you can over-review an agency to the point that it becomes difficult to provide the service that it is charged to provide. And we do need to be careful of that and we do need to be careful of the politics of child protection. It is very easy for others, who do not know all the details, to go off and make a whole range of allegations.
Mr Seselja: It sounds like you are going to sweep it under the carpet.
MS GALLAGHER: That is not the case, Mr Seselja, again with a highly inappropriate and disorderly interjection.
Mrs Dunne: Are you saying the Public Advocate does not know the story?
MS GALLAGHER: And another one from Mrs Dunne. I wonder what it is going to take, Mrs Dunne, honestly, for you lot to treat question time with the respect that it deserves. You ask a question and then you continuously interject as I seek to respond.
I think there are some lessons to be learned and some messages to take from Ms Vardon’s comments. They are certainly comments that I would agree with. But that does not mean that you sweep things under the carpet. It just means that you are mindful of these things as you go on to improve the service.
MR SPEAKER: Before I go to Ms Hunter for the next question, I remind members that yesterday I was required to warn seven members for their conduct in question time. I also remind members that it is not obligatory for me to give a warning, and I do not expect the ministers to have to raise their voices to be heard over the noise in this place. Ms Hunter, you have the floor.
Bimberi Youth Justice Centre—review
MS HUNTER: My question is to the Minister for Community Services and concerns the government’s response to the Human Rights Commission into the youth justice system. Minister, while the government has agreed with the majority of recommendations from the report, there appears to be some reluctance to accept the Human Rights Commission’s findings and proactively pursue some of the recommendations. For example, the government has not committed to ensuring equality in education for segregated young people, the provision of a full-time nurse or an ongoing implementation and oversight mechanism to ensure proper reform. Could you please outline for the Assembly how you propose to deal with these matters?
MS GALLAGHER: I am happy to provide more information to Ms Hunter. I do not have the government’s response to hand, but I can certainly say the government
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