Page 232 - Week 01 - Wednesday, 16 February 2011
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for a time did establish a child death review team. This was in response to the Vardon report titled The territory as parent. That team gathered data about the deaths of children and young people between 1992 and 2003.
As Ms Hunter said in her presentation speech, that team reported in 2006, recommending legislation to establish a statutory basis for a child death review team. Unfortunately, that recommendation fell into a black hole. Perhaps someone hoped it would go away. Indeed, I would venture to suggest that the Minister for Disability, Housing and Community Services and her department have been dragged kicking and screaming to the point that we find ourselves in today.
In November last year the minister came to me with a long list of concerns about the bill. She promised me there would be government amendments to the bill shortly after that meeting. The minister’s behaviour in this—I said this to the minister’s face yesterday and I said that I would say it here—has been quite unusual.
There were attempts backwards and forwards to mediate an outcome because I think that the minister, on behalf of her department, is pretty uncomfortable about this proposal. I think that what can only be described as attempts to play off one grouping against the other were pretty obvious where the minister came to discuss with me her concerns about the bill. I am not the proposer of this bill; Ms Hunter is. She came to discuss her concerns with me before she discussed them with Ms Hunter. Then I understand that the minister went off to Ms Hunter and said, “I have had a conversation with Mrs Dunne and we agree—” blah, blah, blah. That was not the case.
Since then, I have been visited on a couple of occasions by the minister, who keeps saying that the amendments are coming. I eventually received those amendments after the close of business on Monday this week, just one working day before this bill was due to be debated. I have said to the minister that I suspect the slowness in response is part of the department’s response, because they do not want this to happen and that has been very clear over a very long time—long before the Vardon inquiry, when a child death review committee was first suggested when Heather McGregor was the Community Advocate back in the mid-nineties. The department was opposed to it then and I do not see any change in their position.
What I have seen is slightly ham-fisted and amateurish stuff from the minister which has amounted to substantial delays. What I received from the minister on Monday afternoon were 23 amendments comprising 12 pages of drafting when the bill itself is only 12 pages long.
At 6.00 pm, in accordance with standing order 34, the motion for the adjournment of the Assembly was put and negatived.
MRS DUNNE: I think this has been a delaying tactic on the part of the minister and shows a complete lack of regard or respect for other members of this place, much less the very people who are the subject of this bill, children and young people.
Also I think that we did receive last week seven amendments from Ms Hunter, which have been a long time coming, especially when you consider that this bill was
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