Page 304 - Week 01 - Thursday, 27 February 2014
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MS BURCH: Many of the infrastructure support services that go to allowing us to have a successful multicultural festival are through a public procurement process, which would have been put out to tender. It would have been independently assessed.
MADAM SPEAKER: Supplementary question, Mrs Jones.
MRS JONES: Minister, regarding the funding of the festival, has the extra $100,000 not funded in the forward estimates yet been awarded or found in the budget process?
MS BURCH: It is my understanding that we had a budget for this year’s festival. We committed those funds. It is yet to be fully acquitted, because you would appreciate that after two weeks those results are still coming in. But I am confident that we will deliver the 18th National Multicultural Festival on budget to the great satisfaction of a quarter of a million—
Mrs Jones: Point of order, Madam Speaker.
MADAM SPEAKER: Point of order, minister. Mrs Jones.
Mrs Jones: It is a point of order on relevance. I am not sure that the minister heard my question properly. I asked about the extra $100,000 that is missing out of the forward estimates in fact in the last two years for the four-year forward estimates of the budget.
MADAM SPEAKER: Minister Burch, have you got anything to add to that?
MS BURCH: No.
Canberra Institute of Technology—alleged bullying
MR DOSZPOT: My question is to the minister for education. Minister, my question relates to your response to the report of the review of allegations of workplace bullying and other misconduct at the Canberra Institute of Technology. Minister, which are the—and I quote your comment—“small areas” within the CIT that the report confirmed had problems?
MS BURCH: I thank Mr Doszpot for his question and his continued interest in occupational health and safety at CIT. Let us be very clear that the report that the commissioner put out back in September of last year was very clear in its statements that there were areas of poor practice. It covered a range of things. It covered communication; it covered how grievances were managed. The report was very clear in its statement that there was no evidence and no substantiation of systematic bullying. That does not mean to say that those individuals involved were not aggrieved, were not troubled and were not hurt by some individuals within CIT. I am not saying that. But there is a very clear distinction between an allegation of systematic abuse and bullying within a workplace and individual areas of concern and poor practice.
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