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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 1 Hansard (17 February) . . Page.. 273 ..
MR WOOD (continuing):
the acknowledged excessive number of casual workers in community care programs to see that undesirable people are not employed and that qualified people are employed? What check are there, and who carries out those checks? Is it the Government or the hiring agency, both or no-one?
MR MOORE: I thank Mr Wood for the question, as I thank members for their tolerance during my absence from the chamber. I was involved in a ministerial teleconference trying to protect the interests of the people of Canberra. In the particular case you referred to, Mr Wood, I understand the person is up for sentencing today, so I have to be very careful to avoid the particular case. But your question refers to more than that particular case. It also talks about the generic issue of checks.
The disability program within Community Care goes through such checks for both permanent and casual staff. There is the normal interview but there is also a police check. Agencies that employ casual staff also undertake police checks when they employ staff. A similar system is followed at the Canberra Hospital, although I understand it is unusual for police checks to be carried out for casuals there. I think we would agree that the situation at the Canberra Hospital is somewhat different to that in a disability home. I do not think it requires quite the same intensity in following through. There is an effort to ensure that people we are looking after are looked after and not exposed to this kind of behaviour.
With regard to the very specific question about the person involved in the offence, I am not aware whether or not the person has attempted to work in Community Care or not, but I will take that part of the question on notice.
MS TUCKER: My question is to the Chief Minister and follows on from my previous questions this week. Yesterday, Chief Minister, you responded to my question about the status of the mandatory sentencing and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. You said that there were legal arguments involved. Are you aware that the following bodies have made submissions to the inquiry, expressing the opinion that mandatory sentencing legislation does breach the Convention on the Rights of the Child - the Law Council of Australia; the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission; ATSIC; the National Children and Youth Law Centre; Sir Ronald Wilson, former High Court judge; Sir Gerard Brennan, former Chief Justice of the High Court; the Criminal Lawyers Association of WA; Amnesty International; the Australian Bar Association; the Martin Flynn Law School of WA; John Willis, associate professor, La Trobe University; the Law Society; the International Commission of Jurists; and the Australian Law Reform Commission - and that the only two submissions to the contrary have been from the Northern Territory and Western Australian governments?
MS CARNELL
: I come back to my answer yesterday. I do not believe it is up to this place or to this Government to second guess either the Senate committee or the legal system. Mr Moore had a legal opinion to say that the SIP legislation was within international conventions and Mr Osborne had one to say it was not. I think you can get
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