Page 1736 - Week 06 - Thursday, 30 July 2020
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
individual—because I have committed to getting back to them with detail and I am not going to speak more publicly about this until I have had the opportunity to review some draft correspondence to them and to respond to them comprehensively and formally, rather than taking questions in this place, I will take the question on notice.
MRS DUNNE: Minister, was Mr Burch provided with any termination payments and, if so, how much taxpayers’ money was provided?
MS STEPHEN-SMITH: I will take the question on notice.
MR COE: Minister, did Mr Burch’s bail conditions prohibit him from participating in social media activity and, if so, was he in breach of those conditions when, while still working for ACT Health, he continued to participate in a work-based WhatsApp group which included the sharing of photographs of children?
MS STEPHEN-SMITH: I will answer this question. To the best of my knowledge, that was one of his bail conditions and I understand that the matter is under investigation.
ACT Health—child sex offences
MS LEE: My question is to the Attorney-General and, in his absence, the Chief Minister. It relates to the decision in the matter of Bradley John Burch. Chief Minister, there has recently been a strengthening of sentencing at a commonwealth level to ensure that child sex offenders spend time behind bars. To what extent was your government involved in discussions about changes to commonwealth law on child sex offences and does the sentencing in this case, where a self-confessed child sex offender spent not a single day behind bars, reflect the intent of those discussions and the changes to the commonwealth law?
MR BARR: I will take the first part of the question on notice. I need to get some advice from the attorney in relation to conversations I was not privy to. What I can advise Ms Lee is that Mr Burch was sentenced in the ACT Supreme Court but his convictions were for commonwealth criminal offences and he was prosecuted by the commonwealth DPP.
MS LEE: Chief Minister, is the attorney, or are you, aware that Mr Burch’s intensive correction order has seen him released to live in Fyshwick in a brothel? Does this meet the government’s expectations of how these orders should work?
MR BARR: I will take that question on notice and seek advice on the matter.
MRS DUNNE: Is the government satisfied that a convicted child sex offender not only should not have spent a single day behind bars but is literally serving out his sentence whilst living in a brothel?
MR BARR: The question is asking me to comment on a judicial decision. I will not be doing that. I will take the question on notice.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video