Page 2571 - Week 07 - Tuesday, 5 June 2012
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What did Anita Phillips say when she was quizzed by Ross Solly on the ABC? Ross Solly said, “Please tell me, Anita Phillips, that the most vulnerable, the most at-risk youth and children, in the ACT are better cared for now than they were in 2004.” And what was the answer? “I don’t know that that is particularly the case.” And it is not the case. We know that it is not the case. And we know that every report that we see highlights the fact that after 11 years of Labor, eight years since the Vardon report and two years of this minister, the children most at risk in the ACT are no better off. And the Greens are voting for that to remain the case.
What did Anita Phillips say on the ABC? She was asked, “Are they better cared for than they were in 2004?” and she said: “I don’t know that that is particularly the case. What I was looking at was the whole situation of children coming into care. I was only looking at that particular aspect of the response that triggered children coming into care, and I found serious inadequacies with that. There was a lack of guidelines that led people to make decisions about young people and children coming into care, so that led to a reactive culture which meant that the only children that came into care, in the 100 cases that I looked at, all of the children came in as an emergency action, which means it got to the desperate stage.”
It is good that we are looking after kids when they are at the desperate stage, but isn’t it a shame that they have got to get there? She went on: “You don’t want to bring children into care before it gets to that stage, but also on average, those families had been visited up to 10 times before this final decision was made, and nothing was done in that time. These are the kinds of things that I’m concerned about, that we start asking questions about.” And so are the Canberra Liberals.
The Greens will abrogate their responsibility. The Greens will say, “Government, go on your merry way.” The Greens will not hold the minister to account. But we will. When you find that in these 100 cases these people had been visited up to 10 times and nothing happened, there is a serious lack of leadership, and leadership starts with the minister.
Of course Ms Hunter immediately throws out the distracter, “Well, we are affecting the front-line workers.” Well, the front-line workers are affected. Look at the staff turnover. The front-line workers are affected because they are only able to cope at the crisis stage instead of getting into early intervention, and that is why this motion should be supported today.
How many reports do there have to be, how many reviews do there have to be, how many debates do there have to be, before this place holds this minister accountable for her failure of leadership? There is an old saying: fish rot from the head. And if the rot is in the head then of course the system will never be fixed, because those who work in the system are battling what they encounter when they make their visits to these families, but they are also battling the leadership which starts with the minister that lets them down. So, Meredith Hunter, stand up today for the front-line workers. That will be a novel change for the Greens, because you never do it.
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