Page 2452 - Week 06 - Thursday, 23 June 2011
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The government is listening to the people of Canberra, through “time to talk”, and we are using this community input in improving our strategic planning into the future.
This government has shown leadership in a number of areas, including by building one of the strongest and most positive engagement models with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community. The implementation of the ATSI elected body, while the rest of the nation was disinvesting in such mechanisms, has yielded a strong culture of communication with ATSI people in the territory, a director-general-level accountability body and a new justice agreement with our ATSI community.
We have also redefined the ways communities are engaged for basic health and community services. For example, this government is the one that started the child and family centres, the health walk-in clinic and the use of the former school sites as local community hubs.
I welcome the opportunity to again highlight the leadership and capability of this government and to provide some insight into the priorities that mark me out as the leader of this government. I look forward to reporting back to the Assembly on the achievements of my leadership team as our priorities are delivered over the next 12 months. I am sure those opposite can’t wait for that!
MS HUNTER (Ginninderra—Parliamentary Convenor, ACT Greens) (5.10): Let me take the opportunity to state that it is obvious the Greens agree that competence and leadership are indeed desirable and very important characteristics in any government. There are some areas where the government has fallen behind in this regard and I would like to take the opportunity to pick up on some of those concerns.
Some issues have been raised by the Ombudsman. Recently he made a submission to the Hawke review that was quite critical of the government’s response to concerns raised by the community. He responded with constructive criticism about improving their practices. Even more recently he put out a media release about this issue and made further criticisms of the government’s complaints handling procedures. The Ombudsman observed that we were a leading jurisdiction in many regards and that unfortunately this has receded somewhat to the point where he has felt the need to make a public statement.
One area that I would particularly like to touch on is the area of human rights. Certainly we were the leading jurisdiction in this regard. I note that not only were we the first to recognise civil and political rights; we also undertook a significant body of work on social, economic and cultural rights. The project was completed in September last year and I would welcome a response from the government about whether or not it is pursuing the report’s recommendation that economic, social and cultural rights be included in our Human Rights Act.
I would make the observation, and I have made it on a couple of occasions previously, that, whilst the government is keen to champion itself as a defender of human rights, at times the practical application of this and in particular the willingness of the government to engage in what will always be a debate about the extent of rights is
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