Page 4811 - Week 13 - Wednesday, 1 November 2017
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refurbishments or included in their build since 2009 when the ACT government commenced monitoring the use of these materials?
MR GENTLEMAN: I thank Mr Wall for his question. The detail that I have on the timing does not show when the panels were put on. My understanding is that a lot of them were done during the building the education revolution. During that period a lot of school halls were built across the territory, and ACPs were used as a decorative component to those. I am not sure at this stage the detail of how many ACPs are around egress points and access points for those particular buildings, but as soon as we get more information I am happy to report back to the Assembly.
MR WALL: Minister, what is the government’s time frame to determine the type of aluminium composite panels used at the already identified 46 school sites and for taking the necessary action to remediate?
MR GENTLEMAN: I cannot give a definitive time line. It is a matter for the team to do the investigation and report back.
MS LAWDER: Minister, when did you brief ACT Fire & Rescue on the findings of the desktop audit relating to schools, and have the schools and their P&Cs been informed?
MR GENTLEMAN: All directorates were involved in this audit, so both Fire & Rescue and the Education Directorate were involved.
Trade unions—anti-Chinese campaign
MR HANSON: My question is to the Chief Minister. Chief Minister, following the recent attack on Chinese students at the Woden bus interchange, the president of the Chinese Community Council of Australia has called for measures that would prevent these racist attacks, saying, “It would appear that extreme views have become the norm which provides the impetus for a young person to commit racial crimes.” Recently the CFMEU robocalled over 50,000 Canberrans from a person calling themselves “a mother of three and concerned wife” talking about the troubling issue that Chinese workers were coming and companies would not offer jobs to Aussies. A CFMEU television campaign stated:
[They’re] letting Chinese companies bring in their own workers. Sorry, but you won’t even get a look in, son.
Chief Minister, what measures will you put in place to prevent explicitly xenophobic campaigns such as these run by the CFMEU running in the ACT?
MR BARR: I think the question seeks a little bit of overreach in terms of the ACT’s constitutional powers to limit advertising freedom of speech in various campaigns. That said, I think it is regrettable that any organisation would seek to run campaigns based on the race of any particular individual and I think it is extremely regrettable that a small group of Chinese students was the subject of an unwarranted attack at the Woden bus interchange in our city in recent times.
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