Page 2570 - Week 07 - Tuesday, 5 June 2012
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“(a) the 2004 report on the Review of the Safety of Children in Care in the ACT and of ACT Child Protection Management by the then Commissioner for Public Administration, titled The Territory as Parent;
(b) the ACT Public Advocate in her review of the emergency response strategy for children in crisis in the ACT released in October 2011 made significant criticisms and recommended organisational and systemic changes;
(c) that, subsequent to this report, the Minister for Community Services was censured by the Assembly;
(d) the final report of the ACT Public Advocate of her Review of the Emergency Response Strategy for Children in Crisis in the ACT, titled Who is looking out for the Territory’s children? was released in May 2012 and made seven recommendations for systemic reform;
(e) the seven recommendations made in the report were agreed to, or agreed to in part by the Government, including recommendation 4, that will create a review panel which will provide milestone reviews;
(f) the consistent findings of successive high-level reports into care and protection between 2004 and 2012; and
(g) the Auditor-General’s Performance Report on Care and Protection Services is underway, and consideration of the need for an Office of the Children’s Guardian will be considered at the end of this process; and
(2) calls on:
(a) the Government to urgently act on all of the recommendations of the final report of the ACT Public Advocate in her Review of the Emergency Response Strategy for Children in Crisis in the ACT, titled Who is looking out for the Territory’s children?; and
(b) to publicly release the milestone reviews.”.
I hope that I get support for the amendment put forward today. It clearly states that there are some issues within the system. There have been significant criticisms and recommended organisational and systemic changes. The amendment talks about the reports and reviews that are underway, calls on the government to ensure that the recommendations are implemented and publicly release the milestone reviews.
MR SMYTH (Brindabella) (10.50): The ACT Liberals will not be supporting the sell-out of the kids at risk in the ACT that Ms Hunter’s amendment is, because that is simply what it is. This amendment sells out the kids most at risk in the ACT. It protects the government. It keeps the government secure, and one can only assume that it is to secure a place for the minister after the election later this year, because this is not standing up for the children most at risk.
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