Page 2550 - Week 07 - Thursday, 3 August 2017
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(2) ACT Government representatives were concerned by the aggressive behaviour of some individuals at some of the meetings in part (1). While these issues were not considered to be ‘severe’ in nature, they were of concern from a Work Health and Safety perspective as employees of the ACT Government are entitled to a safe working environment. They are entitled to be treated with courtesy and respect, as are other attendees at these meetings.
(3) The Taskforce has taken a proactive approach to arranging presentations at community councils, rather than waiting to receive invitations, noting that there is sometimes negotiation about meeting dates and, on occasions where staff are unavailable for the first proposed meeting date, the Taskforce arranges to attend an alternative session.
(4) In relation to the session held on Saturday, 8 April 2017 at the Weston Creek Community Centre:
a) 7 representatives from the Public Housing Renewal Taskforce attended, 4 representatives from Economic Development attended and 8 representatives from the Community Services Directorate attended;
b) There were 93 attendees for Holder, 78 attendees for Chapman and 66 attendees for Wright, totalling 237 attendees;
c) As at 15 May 2017, the following numbers of feedback forms were completed:
(i) Holder: 43 feedback forms at the consultation session and 15 online feedback forms – a total of 58 forms.
(ii) Chapman: 26 feedback forms at the consultation session and 17 online feedback forms – a total of 43 forms.
(iii) Wright: 19 feedback forms at the consultation session and 25 online feedback forms – a total of 44 forms.
d) There were some instances at the session where attendees raised their voices at staff or made inappropriate comments to staff. There was also an individual that was collecting signatures for a petition. Several staff members and at least one member of the public found this individual’s behaviour threatening. There were no issues which involved physical violence or which required escalation or involvement of security personnel.
e) The cost of holding the session was $2,874.72. This includes the cost of the venue, security and the information boards (noting that some of these boards were also used for other sessions relating to the sites in Monash and Mawson). It does not include the cost of staff salaries.
f) Security personnel did attend:
(i) There was one security guard in attendance.
(ii) The cost of having security on-site was $243.72.
(iii) Security was required to manage concerns about staff safety and to ensure that all attendees had an opportunity to express their views and were not ‘shouted down’ or intimidated.
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