Page 976 - Week 03 - Tuesday, 29 March 2011
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sector to improve the standard of service delivery. Organisations had to have a range of policies and procedures in place covering good governance, managing and minimising risk, HR, OH&S and so forth. That was a real struggle for many organisations that simply did not have the capacity to dedicate one person to get on with that job and then to have the ongoing resources to ensure that that was kept up to date. We really do need to see with this new scheme that organisations are going to be properly supported to be able to put it in place.
I remember being in a workshop around the raising the standard policy when Ms Gallagher’s mother, Betsy Gallagher, then head of the Woden Community Service, raised this very issue. Of course we want to deliver quality services, but the sector needs to be supported to put these things in place. It cannot just be passed through the Assembly with a new policy position being put through the department and put into contracts without understanding the impost and the implications for community organisations. I do urge the minister to give careful consideration to this matter.
MS BURCH (Brindabella—Minister for Disability, Housing and Community Services, Minister for Children and Young People, Minister for Ageing, Minister for Multicultural Affairs and Minister for Women) (4.17), in reply: I firstly commend this legislation to members of the Assembly. As members are aware, the purpose of the Working with Vulnerable People (Background Checking) Bill 2010 is to reduce the incidence of sexual, physical, emotional, financial harm or neglect of vulnerable people in the ACT. The protection of the rights of children and vulnerable adults in the ACT, when using services they need, is a high priority for this government. Part of creating safe services for vulnerable people means excluding people with a known history of behaviours which place vulnerable people at risk.
The bill will apply to employers, employees and volunteers who have contact with children and vulnerable people accessing a regulated activity or service and will replace current checking requirements across a range of regulated areas. Vulnerable people are defined as children under the age of 18 and adults who are experiencing disadvantage and, as a result of disadvantage, are accessing activities or services. This definition acknowledges that people’s circumstances change, and regulated activities are those activities or services that will attract background checking of employers, employees and volunteers under the bill.
The Commissioner for Fair Trading will be the commissioner responsible for administering the act. Background checking and risk assessments will occur in a screening unit which is to be established in the Office of Regulatory Services in the Department of Justice and Community Safety. I would like to thank ORS for their active engagement with stakeholders as the consultation on the workplace screening risk assessment guidelines continues.
A staged implementation of the background checking system will assist individuals, organisations and the screening unit to implement the registration process. The government will develop resources that promote education and awareness about the background checking system in the community as this will be fundamental to the successful transition of the new system. And it has been this government’s practice
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