Page 2324 - Week 07 - Wednesday, 2 August 2017
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(a) while the ACT has some of the strongest laws in Australia in relation to management of dog attacks, the Minister for Transport and City Services has committed to reporting back to the Assembly by the end of September regarding further improvements to our animal management regime; and
(b) the Government will table the framework under which applications for Act of Grace payments are assessed and detail how the framework was adhered to in assessing this specific application.”.
I thank Mr Doszpot for his assessment of my character. Under section 130 of the Financial Management Act 1996 the Treasurer can authorise an act of grace payment if special circumstances warrant such a payment. The government has established and applies a specific set of criteria when assessing whether to grant an act of grace payment request. I now table the framework for the Assembly’s information:
Act of Grace payments—assessment framework, dated August 2017.
The framework aims to achieve consistency in how such requests are assessed to ensure that Canberrans are afforded equal and due process within the government’s decision-making.
The framework stipulates that an act of grace payment can be provided where, (a) the territory’s role, acts or omissions in relation to a particular case has caused an unintended or inequitable result for the individual or entity concerned or, (b) the application of territory legislation has produced a result that is unintended, anomalous, inequitable or otherwise unacceptable in a particular case or, (c) the matter is not covered by legislation or specific policy but is intended to introduce such legislation or policy and it is considered desirable in a particular case to apply the benefits of relevant provisions prospectively. The clear advice I received from the ACT Government Solicitor and from ACT Treasury was that this matter did not satisfy those criteria, and I responded accordingly.
My amendment goes to address the issues raised by Mr Doszpot in relation to act of grace payments and further notes that the Minister for Transport and City Services has committed to reporting back to the Assembly by the end of September as a result of a previous discussion in this place regarding further improvements to our animal management regime. I have now tabled the framework under which these act of grace payments are assessed. The framework details how they are assessed and it is the same process that I apply across all requests, which come two or three a month. I apply the same criteria, seek advice from the same agencies broadly across government and, in this instance, as with all others, have acted in accordance with that advice.
MS LE COUTEUR (Murrumbidgee) (10.38): I want to agree with those who have spoken before me saying this situation is tragic. The details of the dog attack are horrifying. It is a terrible thing to have happened to anybody let alone to a child. It is also clear from the recent motions and debates on the regulation of dangerous dogs that everyone in this Assembly takes the issue very seriously. Nobody could possibly
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