Page 4157 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 21 September 2011
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placements in this way and I was told, “Well, it was an emergency, Mrs Dunne.” That answer covered the real truth, and perhaps the real truth has been withheld from the minister.
There are real issues here about the administration of the care and protection system in the ACT. I had occasion on the weekend to refresh my memory about the contents of the Vardon report called The territory as parent. I picked it up because I feared that what I was experiencing could be called a deja vu experience so I went home and spent some time on the weekend reading the Vardon report The territory as parent, and all of those fears about deja vu were confirmed. I cannot help feeling that this Labor government learned nothing from that report except how to spend money. I cannot help feeling that the sector dealing with the significant problems of children and young people in care is still facing the same challenges.
That brings me to the reason for my motion today. It calls for the Public Advocate to report directly to this Assembly so that this Assembly can be assured that what is happening in the care and protection system that looks after our most vulnerable is above board. I know that Ms Hunter has a proposed amendment—and I think she does this quite rightly and I will be proposing an amendment to it—to seek to protect the privacy of the people, the confidentiality of protected information and the identity of the organisation concerned. In that connection I will have to point out again that the minister has already revealed, by tabling in this place an unredacted version of the letter, the name of the organisation.
It is important to ensure that the Public Advocate’s report does not fall into a departmental or ministerial black hole. It is important that the Assembly is briefed fully on the Public Advocate’s findings and recommendations. It is also appropriate that such an important independent statutory office holder should report to the Assembly on such an important issue.
It is no wonder that children and young people in the care and protection system in this town are crying—when you see the maladministration and the lack of care from this minister and the people under her. It is sad that there is a minister whose attitude is one of such complacency, that she is so incompetent and that the directorate that she oversees is apparently so ignorant of the act that they administer. I commend the motion to the Assembly.
MS HUNTER (Ginninderra—Parliamentary Leader, ACT Greens) (11.49): I thought that the minister would want to speak first but I am happy to go as the next speaker. As Mrs Dunne just mentioned, I do have some minor amendments to Mrs Dunne’s motion but essentially we will be supporting the motion in this place today. The incident in question has highlighted a range of problems. The Greens believe, as I am sure everyone else does, that we need to resolve these issues as quickly as possible.
We certainly agree that the most appropriate person to do this at this point is the Public Advocate. The Public Advocate is independent and I believe will be able to perform this task very well. It has been said many times that children in the care and protection system are amongst the most vulnerable in the group of young people and children we have in our community.
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