Page 724 - Week 02 - Thursday, 20 February 2020

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ACL does not have specific provisions around bonds, there are laws in place to protect consumers from unfair contract terms in standard form contracts. Whether something is ‘unfair’ is considered by looking at the contract as a whole.

It is common for providers to request a bond from families to cover any unexpected adjustments to Child Care Subsidy payments.

Not all early childhood education and care services in the ACT require a bond. If a family is dissatisfied with a service’s requirements, such as the keeping of bonds, they can raise these issues with the service in the first instance. In some circumstances services can adjust their requirements, such as when a family is experiencing vulnerability or disadvantage. If the issue cannot be resolved, information for families regarding alternative early childhood education and care services can be found on the Starting Blocks website www.startingblocks.gov.au.

Mental health—suicide prevention
(Question No 2883)

Mrs Kikkert asked the Minister for Mental Health, upon notice, on 29 November 2019:

(1) Can the Minister provide detailed updates on what the ACT Government has done in response to Recommendations 1 and 2 from the Standing Committee on Health, Ageing, Community and Social Services Report 8 entitled Inquiry into Youth Suicide and Self Harm in the ACT.

(2) Have the intended funding and research outcomes been made public yet; if not, why not; if so, are there any other obstacles that would prevent the Assembly from re-examining this matter as per the third recommendation.

(3) What early intervention measures, education approaches and access to services for suicide prevention activities has the ACT Government developed since the report was tabled.

(4) The inquiry’s terms of reference include data in the notes section from 2013, can the Minister provide up-to-date data for the each year between 2013 and the present, in the categories of (a) percentage of young people aged 15 to 25 who died in the ACT who died as a result of suicide, (b) number of persons who died from suicide in the ACT and (c) number of persons who died from transport accidents in the ACT.

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

(1) RECOMMENDATION 1

2.28 The Committee recommends that the ACT Government update the Legislative Assembly on both the development of the national database, and progress made in relation to improving the collection of ACT data, particularly in relation to receiving consistent data from community based organisations.

There are numerous Commonwealth initiatives to develop national standards for data linkage of national databases that have relevant data related to suicide and self-harm, such as the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare suicide and self-harm


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