Page 327 - Week 01 - Thursday, 14 February 2019

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a. on the ACT Revenue Office website: http://www.revenue.act.gov.au/land-tax?result_1060955_result_page=5

b. from the ACT Revenue Office Circular: http://www.revenue.act.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0017/1222226/LTA001.1.pdf

The ACT Revenue Office is also available to assist with questions from the public that may not be covered by these two information sources. ACT residents can submit their questions to the ACT Revenue Office using the online contact form https://www.revenue.act.gov.au/contact-us, by mail or phone.

Children and young people—care and protection
(Question No 2060)

Ms Le Couteur asked the Attorney-General, upon notice, on 30 November 2018:

(1) Given that in the past in Victoria and New South Wales (NSW) children and babies had convictions for offences such as “neglect”, “being in need of protection” or “being in moral danger” recorded against them. Are there cases of this happening in the ACT either before or after self-government.

(2) Given that in NSW the convictions were often referred to as status offences, prior to self-government in the ACT, were ACT children subject to these NSW laws that enabled status offences to be recorded against them.

(3) Were there any similar Commonwealth laws in place that were applied to children and young people in the ACT.

(4) Were there ever any children or young people in the ACT who were convicted of offences that related to being removed from the care of their families; if so, can the Attorney-General provide any information on their cultural background, specifically if they were Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander.

Mr Ramsay: The answer to the member’s question is as follows:

(1) Former legislation governing care and protection matters allowed for children and young people to have certain care and protection offences recorded against them. Prior to self-government, this approach applied in the ACT.

Under the Child Welfare Ordinance 1957, a child or young person could be ‘charged with being, a neglected child or an uncontrollable child or young person’ (see, for example, Part III, section 12(b)). This reflects a historic view of child protection matters and predates contemporary approaches in which the rights and interests of the child or young person are paramount. This Commonwealth legislation applied to the ACT care and protection context.

The Child Welfare Ordinance 1957 was repealed by the Children’s Services Act 1986, which articulated a shift in how child protection offences were understood. Section 139 of the Children’s Services Act 1986 addresses neglect of children and reframes this as an offence against the child or young person by an adult.

The Children’s Services Act 1986 was repealed by the Children and Young People Act 1999, which determines that ‘children and young people have the right to be protected


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