Page 1956 - Week 06 - Wednesday, 7 June 2017
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The unfortunate failure of this general tender process enabled direct negotiation with consultants and potential service providers. This is a service that has not been delivered in the territory before and is delivered in only a small number of other sites around the country. As a result, ACT Health sought advice on an appropriate model of service to be implemented. Winnunga Nimmityjah was contracted along with ATODA and Karralika to help develop a model of care for the bush healing farm. However, it did not meet all the requirements of ACT Health. To be clear, it is the therapeutic community model which is the agreed service model, and it is the one on which the discussions with the Ngunnawal bush healing farm advisory board have been held and continue to be held.
In relation to the confusion over the zoning of the bush healing farm and its consequence, it is important to be clear as to the precise nature of what occurred. The issue at the centre of this matter is not a failure on behalf of ACT Health to understand the zoning, rather, ACT Health did not adequately communicate to the organisations which were contracted in 2016 the precise nature of this zoning. This unfortunately resulted in Winnunga, ATODA and others developing a model of care that was not compatible with the site and created an inaccurate view as to the purpose of the Ngunnawal bush healing farm. These consequences are not the fault of any external individual or organisation. ACT Health has acknowledged this in forums and in correspondence. I acknowledged it in the media yesterday and again in my amendments to the motion today.
I would like to be clear, Madam Assistant Speaker, that when I and the Chief Minister spoke in question time during the last sitting about confusion, I never did say and it was never my intention to say that that confusion was the fault of anyone else other than the government. I put on the record formally, as I have done so informally in discussions, that that was never my intent and it was not exactly what I said on the day either.
To turn to the issue of timing, I acknowledge that this has been a long process, begun before many of us entered this place. There is no doubt it has been long and protracted, but it is important to note that, in part, it is not by accident. Because this is such a new and innovative service for the ACT and one of only a handful of examples in Australia, a large amount of learning and research needed to take place to ensure that this service is done correctly.
Further, as this service is one which uses culture as the foundation for healing, it relies on the knowledge and wisdom of our local elders and other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. It is this knowledge and experience which ultimately underpins the vision of the bush healing farm. It is the foundational basis of the bush healing farm and without it the project would be unable to succeed. To capture this knowledge and build the community connections necessary for its success requires significant consultation and understanding, not least of which with the United Ngunnawal Elders Council, who have driven the concept forward since they conceived the idea in 2002.
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