Page 618 - Week 02 - Thursday, 18 February 2016
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where you are not required to wear a helmet. Australia is one of the very few places on the planet where wearing a helmet is mandatory. So there are people across this globe every day riding without helmets. I think it is fair enough to have a look at that evidence, and that is what the government has said we are going to do. We are going to look at the evidence and see what the best advice is that we can get.
Children and young people—out of home care
MS LAWDER: My question is to the Minister for Children and Young People. Last year the ACT government announced the ACT Together consortium as the successful respondent to deliver services under the continuum of care domain of the out of home care strategy, A step up for our kids. This consortium includes Premier Youth Works. The Australian Services Union website states that, as at 24 August 2015:
The lowest paid youth workers in Australia—that’s what staff at Premier Youth Works were facing…
Premier Youth Works has also refused to pass on the Equal Pay increases won by ASU members in 2012 even though they have been in receipt of the extra funding ... from Government for over 2 years.
Minister, what due diligence checks, if any, did the ACT government do on Premier Youth Works during the procurement process for the continuum of care domain?
DR BOURKE: I thank Ms Lawder for her continued interest in this portfolio area. Of course, I appreciate that Ms Lawder has been briefed about the procedure involved in the procurement as well as the overall strategy. I understand that she supports the policy precepts underlying A step up for our kids: one step can make a lifetime of difference.
As she has noted, a tender process was undertaken in 2015 to commission a panel of service providers to deliver services under the strengthening high-risk families and continuum of care areas of A step up for our kids. There was a strong response from local and interstate service providers and those submissions underwent rigorous evaluation by a panel with expertise in areas such as child protection services, therapeutic assessments and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander services. The emphasis of this tender was on an innovative and collaborative service design. The Community Services Directorate has worked extensively with the potential—
Ms Lawder: On a point of order, Madam Speaker—
MADAM SPEAKER: Stop the clock, please.
Ms Lawder: Fascinating as the discussion about the whole procurement process is, my question was specifically about the due diligence checks on Premier Youth Works.
MADAM SPEAKER: On the point of order, standing order 118(a) asks the member to be directly relevant to the subject matter of the question. The subject matter of the question was specifically about one contractor, Premier Youth Works, so I would ask the minister to directly address the question.
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