Page 1128 - Week 04 - Thursday, 21 April 1994
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Through this most difficult process, one of the positive aspects of working in this Assembly has been that the committee members have struggled to work together and come up with a unanimous decision. I feel that it will appropriately take this issue forward, and I would like to thank other members for their work. In particular, I recognise the very difficult job of the chair of the committee, Ms Ellis, in taking this matter forward.
MRS CARNELL (Leader of the Opposition) (11.41): I will keep my comments to a minimum, taking into account the time. I endorse Mr Moore's comments. It will be no revelation to anybody that I am not overly happy with the timeframes that have been placed upon the committee, but I do understand the imperative of having some legislation available to those people in Canberra who need desperately to have their needs looked after by this community. It is an almost impossible area to get right. To start with, the definitions are still, in my view, not perfect in this proposed legislation. We now have recommended legislation that covers a very wide group of people - from those who are mentally ill through to those who are intellectually disabled. Those are people with very wide needs, very different concerns and very different lifestyles. To cover all those things in one piece of legislation, I believe, is almost impossible.
I am also concerned that we are proceeding before the national task force and the associated consultancy have reported. One of the most interesting things we found as a committee was the huge service gaps that exist in the ACT at the moment. If there was anything positive that came out of the committee, it was identifying all those areas that need to be addressed. I am very pleased that these recommendations include a six-monthly monitoring of the progress of the proposed Act and of the tribunal and treatment under that tribunal. It will be very interesting to see whether the dire predictions of a number of the community groups involved come to fruition or whether, against all odds, the services in the ACT will be able to cope with the inevitable increase.
I am also pleased to endorse the sunset clause on this legislation. There has been a decision made nationally to move to similar legislation in every State. National legislation in this area is an imperative. At the end of this two years the national recommendations should be in place, so we should be able to move to a piece of legislation in line with other States.
Question resolved in the affirmative.
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE REPORTS - GOVERNMENT RESPONSES
Ministerial Statement and Papers
MS FOLLETT (Chief Minister and Treasurer): Madam Speaker, I ask for leave of the Assembly to make a statement concerning the Government's responses to Assembly committee reports listed on today's notice paper as orders of the day Nos 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 13, and also to the Standing Committee on Tourism and ACT Promotion report on ACT and region tourism and the Standing Committee on Social Policy report on community and cultural use of schools.
Leave granted.
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