Page 2573 - Week 07 - Tuesday, 5 June 2012
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answers the question that is exposed in the report by the advocate, you are just fooling. What you have not done is fix the problem, and what you cannot do is fix the problem, because you will not acknowledge that it takes leadership, and you lack that ability to lead. You lack the ability to say to the head of the department: “Back up the workers who are doing the hard work. Put in place the systems to allow them to do their jobs, and, for goodness sake, protect the children.”
But you stood here, said what you said and then said, “Oh, yes, well, I agree quite hurriedly and urgently with what Ms Hunter is going to propose as an amendment.” And Ms Hunter said, “We know these things have been done.” Well, the things have not made a difference. When the advocate on public radio says that the kids were at risk in 2004 and “I don’t know that they’re any better off today” that shows that for eight years, under successive ministers in a string of Labor governments, you have failed the most vulnerable in our community, the kids at risk. And it will not change until this Assembly stands up to the government, in particular the executive, and especially to a minister with a two-year record of failure, and says: “Enough is enough. For the sake of the kids, you must go.” And that is what Mrs Dunne’s motion says today: for the sake of the children, Minister Burch, you must go.
I would urge members to support this motion. It highlights the abject failure of the government, it highlights the abject failure of the minister, and it really does warrant an expression of want of confidence in a minister that has failed the most vulnerable in our community.
MS GALLAGHER: (Molonglo—Chief Minister, Minister for Health and Minister for Industrial Relations) (11.00): I must say that it is a little bit difficult to listen to Mr Smyth and Mrs Dunne this morning with their usual holier-than-thou approach to care and protection. Mrs Dunne and Mr Smyth actually have been here long enough to understand the history behind child protection in this place and, indeed, the very unfortunate set of circumstances that led up to the Vardon report. If there are two people in this place that contributed to the crisis in care and protection originally, which led to the Vardon report, it is those two sitting over there right now. It was as clear as it was written in the Vardon report where it actually says—
Mrs Dunne interjecting—
MADAM DEPUTY SPEAKER: Mrs Dunne!
Mrs Dunne interjecting—
MADAM DEPUTY SPEAKER: Mrs Dunne!
MS GALLAGHER: This is a quote that you will not hear from Mrs Dunne or Mr Smyth who sat in the cabinet and made decisions not to resource child protection—
Mr Smyth interjecting—
MADAM DEPUTY SPEAKER: Mr Smyth!
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