Page 2084 - Week 07 - Tuesday, 2 August 2016
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MS BERRY (Ginninderra—Minister for Housing, Community Services and Social Inclusion, Minister for Multicultural and Youth Affairs, Minister for Sport and Recreation and Minister for Women) (11.54): I welcome the opportunity to speak today on the Reportable Conduct and Information Sharing Legislation Amendment Bill 2016. At the centre of this bill is a need for improved information sharing to reduce the risk of harm to vulnerable people. It is responsive to several recent reviews that identify the importance of timely, effective information sharing when delivering effective protections for vulnerable people in our community.
The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse observed in their working with children checks report that adequate information sharing is absolutely necessary to ensuring that protections are offered to children. The recent Glanfield inquiry into the system level responses to family violence in the ACT recommended improvements to information sharing between government agencies to achieve better outcomes for vulnerable people. The bill acknowledges these findings and recommendations and concludes that the best interests of children are served by allowing the commissioner to give information to relevant agencies when it can be used to prevent harm occurring to a child or to a group of children. The bill introduces changes that empower key government and community agencies to work cooperatively and effectively to minimise risk of harm to vulnerable people.
Madam Speaker, as the Minister for Community Services I will be writing to several community organisations and service providers whose members and staff will need to be informed about these changes. A factsheet has been developed explaining the changes and what they mean for front-line staff and community organisations that may be affected by them. A copy of this factsheet and information about these legislative changes will soon be made available on the Access Canberra website. I commend the bill to the Assembly and I again thank the Assembly for the opportunity to speak on this matter.
MR BARR (Molonglo—Chief Minister, Treasurer, Minister for Economic Development, Minister for Tourism and Events and Minister for Urban Renewal) (11.56), in reply: I thank members for their contributions and for their support of the bill. It will establish an effective reportable conduct scheme to protect children in institutions in the ACT. The need for a scheme of this type has been clearly identified by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse and has been supported by the Council of Australian Governments.
This new scheme has been modelled on one in place in New South Wales and adapted to fit the particular needs of the ACT. It will give the Ombudsman powers to oversee the way in which institutions respond to allegations of abuse or misconduct involving children by their staff. It will ensure that those people who mistreat or abuse children are identified sooner and that their actions are reported and properly investigated.
The scheme will apply to institutions that exercise the closest care and supervision of children including schools, care and protection teams, providers of services in the
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