Page 755 - Week 03 - Tuesday, 8 March 2016
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I think you can see from that, Madam Deputy Speaker, that this is a really important reform. All too often victims of crime can be forgotten and the enduring impact of the offender’s actions against them can be devastating on their family, professional and working lives and on their personal relationships. There is an opportunity for us to help rectify some of that harm by having a scheme which is equitable, which is fair and which recognises that the impact of crime against individuals can be enduring.
I would like to thank members for their support of this bill today. I would like to thank the officials of my directorate—the Justice and Community Safety Directorate—who have worked for a very extended period of time in formulating the revised mechanisms we are agreeing to today. They have navigated what is a complex and difficult area, and potentially a highly emotive area, in a very sensitive way, in a very considered way and in a very informed way. They have put together for the government a proposal which will deliver justice and fairness to victims of crime in a way that we have not achieved under the existing scheme. I thank them very much for that.
I also thank the Victims of Crime Commissioner for his input into the scheme. His advice and advocacy have been particularly important at a number of key points, and I would like to thank the commissioner for his ongoing dedication in this area. Finally, I thank members for their support of the bill. It is an important reform that will assist victims of crime for many years to come. I commend the bill to the Assembly.
Question resolved in the affirmative.
Bill agreed to in principle.
Leave granted to dispense with the detail stage.
Bill agreed to.
Sitting suspended from 12.27 to 2.30 pm.
Questions without notice
Canberra Hospital—patient care
MR HANSON: My question is to the Minister for Health. Minister, on 24 February this year, one of your former ministerial colleagues, John Hargreaves, wrote of his experiences as a patient at Canberra Hospital. Amongst other things, he said that “One arm of the medical mafia … didn’t talk to another arm”, making him wonder “Did I just have a nightmare or was it real?” He continues, “The horror stories might just be right.” Further, he said that there was “So much paper, so little information sharing, so little coordination” and in the end finishes with “Thank God I was not in a life-threatening situation”. This related to an experience he had recently at the Canberra Hospital. Minister, what is your response to Mr Hargreaves’s allegations that the Canberra Hospital is not the place where you want to have “a life-threatening situation”?
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