Page 4615 - Week 13 - Wednesday, 27 November 2019
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safeguards to ensure that vulnerable groups will not be adversely impacted by aggravated offences in the bill.
In preparing and refining our government bill, it was very helpful to have the input of the ACT Human Rights Commission as well as my directorate on key human rights issues. It is open to any member of the Assembly to seek the independent advice of the Human Rights Commission on human rights issues. I know that Mr Hanson has drawn on this experience and this expertise in relation to private members’ bills on previous occasions. I also know, Madam Assistant Speaker, that you have done so yourself in relation to a bill introduced today. That is an option that Mrs Jones might have availed herself of to ensure that the bill strikes the right balance in protecting our frontline workers in a way that does not unreasonably limit human rights. For these reasons, the government cannot support the bill as it stands.
Motion (by Ms Berry) moved:
That the debate be adjourned.
MRS JONES (Murrumbidgee) (11.35): Speaking to the adjournment motion, I am glad to raise this matter again today. We will support the adjournment motion, but I have a couple of things to say. First of all, the scrutiny committee report, which looked into the human rights elements of my proposed bill, has not brought this up as an issue. However, I accept that there are various opinions on the issue of the onus of proof and so on, and I am open to a discussion about it.
I would have liked to see this bill brought in before Christmas but I am also willing to work to amend the government’s bill to get a better outcome, with the main objectives of both bills hopefully being achieved. I thank the minister for his openness to discussion. However, I think it is a shame that it will not be in place for the Christmas period when these workers obviously face a really tough time to be at work. While I would like to see their workplace, which is the public sphere, to be as safe as it possibly can be, I accept the adjournment and look forward to further debating the topic.
Question resolved in the affirmative.
Planning—Coombs
MRS JONES (Murrumbidgee) (11.37): I move:
That this Assembly:
(1) notes that, despite the importance of the Coombs Peninsula to the local community, the ACT Government plans to allow approximately 30 dwellings to be developed on the Coombs Peninsula via the land release program;
(2) further notes the Coombs Peninsula is an important public asset and residents bought into the area understanding that it would not be developed; and
(3) calls on the ACT Government to remove the Coombs Peninsula from the land release program and protect it from multi-dwelling development.
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