Page 1283 - Week 05 - Thursday, 4 June 2020
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After many emails from the mother seeking access, an email was sent to the mother saying, “If and when you make contact with your child.” They wanted to silence her for speaking up. You do not get to choose even when the court order orders you to make arrangements for supervised contact between child and mother. Your email does not overrule a court order. Obey the law. You are not above the law. You do not punish a mother for fighting to see her child. You do not have the right to keep that child away from her parent after she asks to see her. This is injustice.
In the clear, broad light of building a mother and child relationship that is bound by a court order, this is a clear violation of protecting the child and the order. When injustice is happening in our world today and there are riots on injustice, we just have to sniff out the injustice that is so close to us, in this Labor government’s treatment of families and children. (Time expired.)
Business—COVID-19
MR GUPTA (Yerrabi) (5.10): Before I begin, I acknowledge the great work that the Minister for Health, Rachel Stephen-Smith, has been doing. It has been acknowledged in the CityNews and other places too. I commend all Canberrans for their resilience during these unprecedented times. This strength and community spirit has allowed us to fare so well against COVID-19. We are not out of the woods yet, but I certainly hope that our excellent track record continues.
Businesses in the ACT have faced some unique challenges over the last few months, with many still recovering from the similarly unprecedented bushfire season. I am proud to be part of the government that has responded so quickly and efficiently to the needs of all Canberrans in this crisis. The JobSeeker and JobKeeper payments were a good start to supporting our community in these trying times, and these initiatives were followed by multiple stimulus measures for Canberrans.
Today I want to talk about the measures we have introduced to support the businesses in Canberra. We have provided exemptions from commercial rates payments for businesses affected by COVID-19, as well as developing a system to provide rental relief to commercial tenants.
We have also provided utilities rebates to both residents and businesses, with eligible small businesses automatically receiving a $750 rebate on their June or July electricity bills, eligible hotels being able to apply for a rebate on fixed water rates, and eligible hospitality businesses being able to apply for a $1,000 electricity rebate. We have also waived a number of taxes and fees associated with running a business, increasing our support for small businesses in the wake of the bushfires over summer. The government today announced a stamp duty concession as part of Canberra’s recovery plan, with the goal of encouraging residential property construction and thereby further supporting the local construction industry.
As well as financial support, the ACT government has developed a number of avenues that have allowed businesses in Canberra to access personalised assistance in navigating both the crisis and the available support for businesses and for ACT
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