Page 1039 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 30 March 2011
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Then we had other people coming on, one after the other, to tell their stories about how they lost their jobs, how staff were discouraged from being involved in the process, how other people were stood down, how their supervisors were told not to go: “We don’t care whether you want to go. You’re not to go.”
Where does this leave the Greens, who say that they are motivated by concerns for the young people? I do not doubt Ms Hunter’s concerns and her commitment to having an effective youth corrections system. The things that Ms Hunter spoke about in her speech are the things that we should be all aspiring to obtain in this Assembly for those vulnerable young people. We should be using the opportunities afforded by them being in this extraordinarily expensive building with these extraordinary facilities to help turn their lives around.
But what we are seeing is that when people go to the minister, she stops her ears, she turns away and says: “La, la, la, la, la. I don’t want to hear.” Can you visualise that, Mr Speaker, that someone who has been elevated to the position of care in this community, someone who has been made a cabinet minister in the ACT government, could be so unprofessional as to turn her back on people who are telling her the things that worry them and make them wake up at night? She turns away from them, stops her ears and says: “La, la, la, la, la. I don’t want to hear.”
This government’s response to this motion today is another “La, la, la,” moment. They do not want to hear the teachers or the youth workers who have been told not to go there. They do not want to hear about the people who have lost their jobs and do not have an explanation. They do not want to hear about the people who believe they have been stood down because they went to the inquiry.
The Attorney-General accused us of saying that the inquiry is a toothless tiger. We did not say the inquiry is a toothless tiger; we said the inquiry has been corrupted, and we stand by that. The inquiry has been corrupted. It is an indication of how much corruption there is in the process that the Attorney-General points to the powers in the legislation. There has been evidence presented here today and on radio that that process has been corrupted. He is the minister responsible for that legislation, and he points to the powers in the legislation. But has he done anything to ensure that this system is not failing? Has he done anything to investigate these allegations? Has he done anything about that, or has he just had a quiet conversation with the commissioner?
The commissioner himself should be concerned. On Monday he was reported in relation to the minutes as being completely unconcerned. He should be concerned. He should be concerned when he reads that it is possible that people who come before him and his working group to give evidence have worked together with their supervisors to formulate a strategy about that evidence. He should be concerned. He should be looking into this.
The commissioner should be looking into all the allegations. I have written to him in relation to Mr Cavill and his concerns, and the commissioner has written back and said that it will be investigated under various aspects of the legislation and it will be looked into as part of the Bimberi inquiry. I thank him for that. But there are now
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