Page 1791 - Week 05 - Thursday, 10 May 2018
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MR BARR: Yes, my understanding is that those summaries would have been approved. There has obviously been a delay for some reason in their being placed on the website.
Federal government—facial recognition scheme
MS LE COUTEUR: My question is to the Chief Minister and relates to the intergovernmental agreement on identity matching services and your agreement in COAG last year for the ACT to participate in the new federal government facial recognition scheme which, based on the bill tabled in February, will enable the Department of Home Affairs to disclose private information potentially to private corporations. Minister, can you assure the Assembly that any facial recognition scheme that the ACT signs up to is compatible with our Human Rights Act?
MR BARR: Yes, I can. That was one of the conditions of the ACT’s agreement. Ms Le Couteur, in the 30-odd seconds of your question I could not quite get the communique of that COAG meeting open in front of me. I will endeavour to do so in the next minute or so. But I am aware that the schedule that is attached to that agreement has some arrangements required that are specific to the ACT and the conditions under which we are participating in that intergovernmental agreement.
MS LE COUTEUR: Chief Minister, Victoria has, in fact, threatened to pull out of the regime because the federal bill goes beyond the scope of what had been agreed by the states and territories. Will the ACT pull out of the scheme if the scheme cannot be made compatible with our Human Rights Act?
MR BARR: I make the observation that at the time of this COAG meeting I was the only leader of any state or territory to point out those issues publicly and to seek a special arrangement for the ACT’s participation. So it was with a degree of irony that we saw the Victorians change their position somewhat. Maybe the commonwealth have overreached in their legislation. The only grounds on which the ACT signed up to that intergovernmental agreement were on the basis that it would be compatible with our Human Rights Act.
Animals—dangerous dogs
MS LAWDER: My question is to the Minister for Transport and City Services. On 12 January 2018 an article appeared in the Canberra Times under the heading “Canberra’s dog rangers open up on horror year”. The article reports that domestic animal services rangers, or DAS, had been “many times before” to a house in Molesworth Street, Watson where a woman had been killed by a dog in October 2017. Minister, how many times in total had DAS rangers attended that Watson house prior to October 2017?
MS FITZHARRIS: I thank Ms Lawder for the question. I do not have the precise number. I will take that question on notice.
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