Page 2175 - Week 06 - Wednesday, 9 May 2012
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us to profit from the listed practices. Business as usual is not okay. It is easy not to engage with the issue, to not think about where the money comes from or what it is doing. We do have a large investment portfolio and it is important that we recognise the practical as well as the symbolic effect that a change in investment decisions can have.A survey by the Business Council of Australia in the lead-up to the last federal election found that 85 per cent of people surveyed think that we can be more economically successful and more socially responsible. This is exactly the thinking driving the policy behind the bill that I have presented today.
The bill does incorporate the concerns of the public accounts committee and follows their recommendation that action should be taken in this area and that we need a proper framework to deal with it. That is exactly what this legislation proposes.
We should be having the debate in the Assembly about the way we manage public money. Previously in this place the Chief Minister has said that the “capacity to make ethical decisions is the bedrock test for leadership in any democracy”.
I would make the point that in other jurisdictions this is certainly not a politically contentious issue and I very much look forward to negotiating with all parties on this bill and debating it in the Assembly in the near future.
Debate (on motion by Mr Barr) adjourned to the next sitting.
Bail Amendment Bill 2012
Ms Hunter, pursuant to notice, presented the bill and its explanatory statement.
Title read by Clerk.
MS HUNTER (Ginninderra—Parliamentary Leader, ACT Greens) (10.16): I move:
That this bill be agreed to in principle.
Today I present a simple and practical amendment to the Bail Act 1992. It is my intention that this amendment will assist in reducing the historically high number of young Canberrans remanded for often minor breaches of bail, and will strengthen the work currently undertaken by the After Hours Bail Support Service. As I say, this is a simple and practical action to insert the youth justice principles into the current Bail Act. It is not an amendment that will make getting bail easier; it is about inserting those principles into the Bail Act.
I would hope that all parties in this Assembly would support providing greater consistency across the acts that govern a child’s interaction with the youth justice system. For those members that are not already aware, the youth justice principles are currently part of the Children and Young People Act 2008. They are referred to in the Crimes (Sentence Administration) Act 2005 and have clear linkages with the ACT Human Rights Act 2004.
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