The Canberra Liberals will be supporting this bill today, just as we supported last year’s amendments to the Working with Vulnerable People (Background Checking) Act. Most of those amendments were designed to align ACT law with principles found in the ‘Intergovernmental Agreement on Nationally Consistent Worker Screening for the National Disability Insurance Scheme’. Passage of the 2019 bill essentially created two different approaches to registration, one for NDIS workers an

Madam Speaker, I wish to speak briefly to three separate parts of this bill. First, this bill proposes to amend the Working with Vulnerable People (Background Checking) Act to make sure that workers and volunteers can remain lawful during the COVID-19 emergency period. Registration for those whose certification will expire during the emergency or in the six months thereafter will be automatically extended until six months after the emergency period ends. Those whose registrat

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Last week was National Mental Health Week, and yesterday we received a report that gives us some sense of that young people in our territory are facing. For example, of the 351 young Canberrans surveyed, one-quarter reported experiencing psychological distress. Figures were higher for females, at 33 per cent, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, at 43 per cent.[1] I worry about the wellbeing of these youths and want to see them receive whateve

Thank you, Madam Speaker. For the past three years, it has been my privilege to speak in defence of the rights of children. I am grateful for the opportunity to do so again today. Only a few months after becoming a member of the Legislative Assembly, I raised concerns about whether the government’s Family and Personal Violence Amendment Bill adequately protected kids. Between then and now, I have repeatedly advocated for the right to have care and protection decisions involvi

Thank you, Madam Speaker, and I thank Mr Petterson for raising this matter of public importance in the Assembly today. This matter refers specifically to the new legal obligation, effective from 1 September this year, that anyone over 18 years old in the ACT who reasonably believes that a sexual offence has been committed against a child must make a report to the police. This is a consequence of a recent amendment to the Crimes Act, with section 66AA now outlining this offenc

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I am grateful for the opportunity to bring this motion before the Assembly today. Nearly two-and-a-half years ago, I moved a motion calling on the ACT Government to recognise the importance of ensuring that decisions in the realm of child protection ‘be subject to external review, both to ensure the quality of such decisions and to engender confidence in the system’. My 2017 motion was informed in part by the 2004 Vardon Report, which raises as one o

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I am grateful for the opportunity to bring this very important motion before the Assembly today. In doing so, I want to acknowledge the contributions of Ms Le Couteur and Minister Stephen-Smith. I thank them for their input and for their willingness to work with me on this very serious matter. As a consequence of our ability to work together, I have circulated an amended motion. Exactly two years ago, I brought a motion before this Assembly raising c

Madam Speaker, I have presented a petition signed by 1,180 Canberra residents who want this Assembly to understand how frustrated they are with recent changes to the bus network in the Belconnen area. We often hear the Minister for Transport assure us that her new transport network is better for almost everyone. The more than 1,000 people who have signed this petition disagree, and I am pleased to make sure their voices can also be heard. Each person who signed this petition

Thank you, Madam Speaker. And I happy to assist in bringing this matter of public importance before the Assembly today. On many prior occasions, Madam Speaker, I have stood in this chamber to discuss the wellbeing of young people. In many cases, the issues that they face are complex, and in many regards, they are growing increasingly complex. Two months ago, I moved a motion in this Assembly calling upon the ACT Government to make a formal commitment to better supporting and

Thank you, Madam Speaker, and I wish to thank the minister for the update she has just provided. I certainly welcome the good news that the number of children entering out-of-home care in the last six months of 2018 was lower than the number entering care in the same period the previous year. Of course, I will need to see these numbers in context to have a greater sense of what the trend might be. I also welcome the news that permanency outcomes, after being appallingly low f