Page 4699 - Week 13 - Tuesday, 31 October 2017
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the definitions and the estate development code. It involves making a number of minor amendments to the existing controls as well as introducing new controls.
Draft variation No 348 was released for public comment between 9 December 2016 and 10 February this year. It received 34 written public submissions and 17 Facebook comments. A report on the issues raised during the consultation process was prepared and changes were made to the draft variation in response. The report on consultation is publicly available on the Environment, Planning and Sustainable Development Directorate’s website and will be tabled with the approved version of the variation today.
Under section 73 of the Planning and Development Act, I referred the draft variation to the Standing Committee for Planning and Urban Renewal. The committee decided not to conduct an inquiry into the draft variation. I am satisfied that the issues raised by the community have been adequately addressed and that the changes made through variation No 348 improve active living in the ACT.
Official Visitor (Children and Young People)—annual report 2016-17
Paper and statement by minister
MS STEPHEN-SMITH (Kurrajong—Minister for Community Services and Social Inclusion, Minister for Disability, Children and Youth, Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs, Minister for Multicultural Affairs and Minister for Workplace Safety and Industrial Relations) (3.41): For the information of members, I present the following paper:
Official Visitor Act, pursuant to subsection 17(4)—Annual report 2016-17—Official Visitor (Children and Young People).
I ask leave to make a statement in relation to the paper.
Leave granted.
MS STEPHEN-SMITH: I am pleased to table the official visitor, children and young people, annual report for 2016-17. The Official Visitor Act 2012, which became operational in September 2013, requires me as the operational minister for the Children and Young People Act 2008 to provide the Legislative Assembly with an annual report collated from the information received from the official visitors throughout the year. Official visitors provide an independent adult who will listen to the concerns of young people in detention or residential care and follow up those concerns with the Community Services Directorate or me directly.
There are rigorous oversight mechanisms for detention and residential care, including the Public Advocate, the Children and Young People Commissioner and the Human Services Registrar. The official visitor’s key focus is to engage directly with young people and to ensure that their voices are heard. In their reports, the official visitors have consistently noted that they are received well by the staff and management at Bimberi and have expressed their satisfaction with the level of care provided to young
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