Page 1333 - Week 04 - Tuesday, 27 March 2012
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MR ASSISTANT SPEAKER: Okay, thank you. I think the matter is best left there at the moment. Could you stop the clock; I am sorry, Mrs Dunne, about that. However, I do make the point that withdrawals are usually made in this place without qualification.
Ms Burch: I withdraw, Mr Assistant Speaker.
MR ASSISTANT SPEAKER: Thank you very much, Ms Burch. Mrs Dunne, you have the floor.
MRS DUNNE: Thank you, Mr Assistant Speaker. The minister is very sensitive on this. The Public Advocate made a finding. She found 24 breaches of the law. The minister came in here with her legal advice that says that that was not the case. The clear facts are there. The other clear facts are there. Under this minister’s administration of this portfolio, this Assembly has brought about three inquiries into her administration. There has been a substantial inquiry into the youth justice system, because of the work done substantially by the Canberra Liberals that ended up with 224 recommendations for how this minister needs to get her affairs in order. We have had one inquiry into the care and protection system—
MR ASSISTANT SPEAKER: Excuse me, Mrs Dunne. Please stop the clock. I am sorry, Mrs Dunne; I have given you a fair amount of latitude to discuss whether the minister has done X or the minister has done Y or has not done X or Y. The MPI is around the social compact. Could I please ask you to be a little bit more relevant than you have been thus far.
MRS DUNNE: Yes. My point is that we have a social compact that requires agencies of government to treat the community and the community sector with respect. We have seen as a result of this three inquiries: one by the Public Advocate which is currently underway, one which is completed and one by the Human Rights Commission and the commissioner for children and young people.
A compact means that there is a treaty or a contract, an agreement, between two organisations or two parts of the community that they will work together. The community sector have kept their part of the compact—in spades, over and over again—but this minister and her department have failed the community sector. And she needs to be held accountable for her failure.
I thank Ms Hunter for bringing this matter forward today. There is much that needs to be done to keep this minister accountable and to ensure that the community services organisations, which do everything on a shoestring for the great benefit of this community, are recognised and valued by this minister and the community at large.
MR RATTENBURY (Molonglo) (3.46): At the start of her remarks a few minutes ago Mrs Dunne took the rather unnecessary and snide path of drawing one of the Greens staffers into the discussion. She made reference to the fact that he was unsure of what the social compact was.
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