Page 198 - Week 01 - Wednesday, 14 December 2016
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To be honest, I thought that Mrs Jones’s speech was an interesting one. I did laugh at a few of Mrs Jones’s assertions because after five weeks of holding the portfolio she made some pretty powerful assertions. At this point I do not recall any briefings taking place. Mrs Jones said, “I’ve heard stories about this and I’ve heard stories about that.” If we are going to come into this place and make strong assertions on the basis of stories, we are going to have to expect a little bit of reaction.
I am interested at the standard that Mrs Jones and her colleagues have just set, that it is upsetting and offensive for somebody to laugh while a speech is being made. I will remind them of that next time they shout somebody down across this chamber with the sort of interjecting we have seen from this team for most of last term.
Mrs Jones interjecting—
MR RATTENBURY: She is doing it again now. She is interjecting. We have just had Mrs Jones complain because someone laughed at an assertion she made without any facts.
MR ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Mr Steele): The minister will resume his seat. Mrs Jones, please stop interjecting. Minister Rattenbury.
MR RATTENBURY: Thank you. We have now seen the standard that it is not okay to laugh but interjecting is fine, and we will see from the opposition through the course of this term that they not only interject, they team interject at times so that you cannot even hear yourself speak in this place. It is an extraordinary double standard set in the first sitting week of the term. I will be interested to see how they carry it forward for the rest of this term.
Let us return to the AMC. Other officers of government are authorised under inspection laws such as the Crimes Act, the Emergencies Act, the Food Act, and the Public Health Act to also enter the facility in certain circumstances. Detainees are also able to seek external review of decisions made by the Director-General of the Justice and Community Safety Directorate, or their delegate, in relation to procedures affecting their management of the AMC. Further, ACT Policing undertakes independent investigations into allegations of criminal behaviour that occur in the AMC.
I simply outline all of these opportunities to indicate that this is a heavily scrutinised facility, as it should be. I think the fact that people lose their right to freedom and are confined in a closed facility necessitates a high degree of scrutiny.
I can say it is a bit overwhelming sometimes when there are so many reviews going on—and they do take significant effort to both answer the questions that the reviewer has and then to respond to the recommendations—but Corrective Services has a constant program of responding to these various reviews and it does take resources. There is a debate to be had there because those resources are not actually then dedicated to making some of the reforms that undoubtedly need to be made in the facility.
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