Page 2322 - Week 07 - Wednesday, 2 August 2017
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any matter concerning the ACT government for knee-jerk resort to legal categories and avoidance of legal liability when citizens are injured, afflicted or prejudiced. It is very clear that the legislation regarding ex gratia payments expressly does not require there to be legal liability shown. Yet the ACT government clearly regard their primary duty here as, at best, to obfuscate and prevaricate and, at worst, to mislead in avoiding any suggestion that the government can indeed step in and assist this situation through an ex gratia payment.
This whole edifice of an uncaring government is typical of the situation in this territory over recent years. Part of the wider problem is that, whilst the Chief Minister and his government do not regard the situation of this boy attacked by vicious dogs in ACT public housing as sufficient to warrant their signing a document to give him an act of grace payment, the Chief Minister and his government can readily find vast sums of money to support other projects and entities which suit their political ends or personal preferences. Funding for such things is, it seems, simply a matter of a nod from the Chief Minister, a flick of the pen and, hey presto, the dollars being found, as in the following cases. It would appear that this government can afford to give $23 million to a Sydney-based football team but cannot afford an ex gratia payment of $200,000 for the ongoing medical costs of the now 13-year-old child. It would appear that the same government that has purchased for $4 million the Tradies club property in Dickson, for which there appears to be no plan for government usage—the Tradies are still occupying it for $1 per year—cannot find $200,000 to help a Canberra family in need of support.
It would appear that this government can afford to buy a block of land for $3 million dollars above valuation but cannot hear the cry for help from a citizen. This unfortunate list of quite questionable prioritisation of government expenditure goes on and on. There was $1.9 million spent on the pop-up container village that has now ceased trading, and another questionable sports grant of over $750,000 for six sandpits, or beach volleyball courts, in Canberra for what is essentially a social competition in the ACT. But asking $200,000 for a child’s medical expenses appears to be beyond the capacity of this government to understand or, worse, to care about. I am sure that the ACT Chief Minister has a social conscience, but the trouble is it is becoming increasingly difficult to find it. He is so fixated on his legacy, the light rail, that his attitude of “whatever the cost, whatever it takes” is now taking on new dimensions.
The latest example is his dismissive letter that I received a few days ago, turning his back on young Jack Hartigan for an ex gratia payment for horrendous injuries received in one of the most vicious dog attacks on a young child in Canberra. It would appear that Mr Barr’s legacy could include his heartless comments contained as the final sentence in his rejection of the ex gratia request: “I am sympathetic to the serious injuries that the boy sustained but they are not the commissioner’s or the territory’s responsibility.” Well, Chief Minister, who then is responsible for the serious and alarming deficiencies in the laws of this territory regarding the control of dangerous dogs and lack of effective remedy for people attacked, mauled and injured by dogs? This happened seven years ago, and to date we have not seen any action or even the willingness to address the problem.
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