Page 1017 - Week 04 - Thursday, 7 May 2020
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is subject to or at risk of abuse, neglect or exploitation. A vulnerable person, in this instance, includes a person with a disability or a person over 60 with an impairment. This is related to the elder abuse issue, and I note that legislation on that has been tabled today.
In our briefing we were informed that the government has been undertaking consultation and that public feedback indicated the need for this type of mechanism. Furthermore, we have been informed that there has been a spike in cases without any available complaint process. This is worsened by the fact that ACAT are not hearing any matters until at least October. Together, they combine to make a compelling case for these changes, even if some parts are linked to a broader policy goal, and so we support them.
In conclusion, given the advice that these changes are limited to urgent and operational matters and that they have come from frontline staff and agencies and are limited in time, we accept that these changes are in line with being operational clauses to deliver services during the COVID period. I thank the Attorney-General’s staff for the briefing they provided to us in a timely fashion.
MS LEE (Kurrajong) (4.52): The Canberra Liberals have been very vocal about the need for the government to get right the messaging and the arrangements for students returning to school. I am not sure, with today’s changes, whether the government has learnt that lesson. Given the debate, perhaps not.
We acknowledge the importance of keeping our teachers safe, our school environments safe and our students safe. Everyone with a child at school knows how hard it has been to educate and supervise their children at home, and I am just as sure that the last few weeks of uncertainty around schools have created an enormous burden on our hardworking teachers.
The purpose of these amendments to the Education Act 2004 is to ensure that the operation of schools can continue legally and with minimum distraction with regard to the administrative processes involved in a school’s re-registration and that they will not fall foul of certain provisions regarding attendance, primarily during this COVID-19 emergency.
At any given time, a number of schools, both government and non-government, fall due for re-declaration or re-registration. During this current period, there are something like nine non-government schools that would in other circumstances be preparing for registration or re-registration. The process of affirming, assessing and measuring the school’s performance against a set of standards is a vital body of work in the accreditation process and it is one that must be done thoroughly.
Given the fluidity and uncertainty of the current circumstances, it is only appropriate that the minister give an extension of registration requirements to schools that fall due during this time so that school boards, principals and teaching staff can concentrate fully on delivering learning in an effective and efficient manner and prepare their school leaders, their staff and their students for a return to face-to-face classroom teaching without the distraction and pressure of re-accreditation.
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