Page 818 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 9 March 2016
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I find it unfortunate when, for example, Mr Rattenbury talked about privacy versus information sharing. These are all issues that have been prosecuted time and time again. For example, in November 2014 there was a guide to reporting child abuse and neglect in the ACT, Keeping children & young people safe—a shared community responsibility. It said:
Confidentiality and privacy are important but should not override the safety of children or young people. Sharing information between Care and Protection Services and other agencies is essential in order to protect children and young people from experiencing abuse or neglect.
Let us not continue to hide behind confidentiality and privacy. What is more important here: children and young people and their abuse and neglect; or hiding behind some problem about confidentiality and privacy? I think it is an excuse that is often used and it is not a valid excuse. The support, the wellbeing and the protection of children and young people are actually the bigger issue here.
Mr Corbell also talked about things that are already in train, and he said that we should wait and see. I guess I get a little tired of hearing these kinds of things. Let me list a couple of the other reports that we have had in this area specific to the ACT. There was the Territory as parent review, which is often known as the Vardon report, in 2004. We had The territory’s children: ensuring safety and quality care for children and young people report on the audit and case review in 2004. There was the First six-month status report on the implementation of the territory as parent review in 2005.
We have had the Children and Young People Death Review Committee, the Public Advocate of the ACT response to nobody’s children inquiry, the Public Advocate of the ACT response to ACT inquiry into respite care services and the ACT family violence intervention program in 2012. There was the “Profile of family violence in the ACT” from the Australian Institute of Criminology in 2007-08. We had A guide to reporting child abuse and neglect in the ACT in 2014 that I previously mentioned. We had the child protection practice paper from ACT Health in July 2013 and the ACT Auditor-General’s Office performance audit report of the care and protection system in 2013. I could just keep reading. There was the ACT government response to report of the Public Advocate on child protection. The list goes on and on, Madam Speaker.
It is not good enough to say that things are already in train and let us wait and see. If there are things that we can be doing immediately, why are we not doing them immediately? Dealing with systemic issues, and not with individual cases, is a way, I think, of disempowering families who have been through very tragic circumstances. I think it is disrespectful to those people not to really encourage and support their inclusion in this inquiry.
I am a little disappointed that a quite reasonable motion, which is about the care and protection of our most vulnerable people, is not being supported by this government today.
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