Page 1473 - Week 05 - Thursday, 12 May 1994
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Madam Speaker, I have discussed before the issue of staffing shifts. I have said on many occasions that if there were to be a proposal for wholesale shifting of staff out of Canberra or removal of staff resources from Canberra I would object, and I have. I objected to the proposal to move the CSIRO headquarters from Canberra to Melbourne. I am on the public record as objecting to that. I believe that the Australian Capital Territory, as the seat of Federal Government, is the proper home for the vast bulk of the administration which supports the Federal Government. I make no secret of that. As I said yesterday, though, on the figures that I have seen in the Federal budget papers, overall the Federal Government is maintaining its staffing figures. There is no wholesale sacking of people. There is no removal of departments from Canberra to some other area, as was proposed by Dr Hewson, and I welcome that. However, I do expect that the Federal Government must ensure its own efficiency. At times that means reallocating positions and reallocating priorities, and I do not find anything remarkable in that kind of a comment.
Human Rights Office
MS SZUTY: Madam Speaker, my question without notice is to the Attorney-General, Mr Connolly. During the Bill of Rights seminar organised by your department on Saturday, 7 May, Dr Marian Sawer, from the University of Canberra, spoke on resourcing human rights legislation. During her presentation Dr Sawer noted that the ACT Human Rights Commissioner is a part-time position and that the commission has only four staff. She went on to say that this has meant that the commission can handle only complaints, usually with time delays of several months, and action in areas such as community education and policy development cannot be considered. The four objects of the Discrimination Act equally emphasise the elimination of discrimination and the promotion of equality. Also, the functions of the commissioner in the Act include promotion, research, the development of educational programs to promote the objects of the Act, and review of the laws of the Territory for consistency with the Act. My question to the Attorney-General is this: Can he inform the Assembly whether he is considering providing the ACT Human Rights Office with sufficient resources to comply with the intent of the Act?
MR CONNOLLY: Obviously issues about resources pre-empt budgets at this time of the year; so it is inappropriate to say what is happening, other than that I am aware of the issue. When the office was created we did seek to fill it on a part-time basis. It was important to fill it with a person of some status and prestige. We appointed Professor Philip Alston, the brother of a Liberal frontbencher, which shows that we are not looking at politics in these issues. We are, as always, a government that is prepared to look at merit wherever we find it. Professor Alston has filled that position and has shown some real leadership; but there is a problem. He is such a high profile international human rights lawyer that he does spend a quite considerable time out of the country. Last year he was out of the country for 12 months and we appointed an acting commissioner, Dr Rosalie Balkin, a senior officer of the Commonwealth Attorney-General's Department. As she is based in Canberra, although she is out of the country from time to time, she was able to come in a lot more rapidly.
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