Mrs BRAHAM - 2006-10-12
A sporting organisation dealing with young children has asked me what regulations they need to implement to comply with the protection of young children and their volunteers. In 2004, a proposed Care and Protection of Children and Young People draft bill was released for discussion. The closing date was February 2005, which is 20 months ago. Was this just an exercise prior to the election to appease community bodies, or do you really intend to do something 20 months later with this new bill? Do you intend to replace the current Community Welfare Act? Come on, it is time we heard something.
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Braitling for her question. Rest assured, this government is intent on reforming the welfare legislation that is now some two decades old. It is a significant body of work. We are trying to move welfare legislation from very old practice – archaic practice in some instances - to modern best practice. You have to undertake a careful course of public consultation, which we have done.
When I became minister in 2005, that consultation had come to an end. There were some draft proposals for legislation that had been worked up. I took the opportunity of engaging expert advice from Professor Dorothy Scott of the Australian Centre for Child Protection at the University of South Australia, because I felt that, whilst we had intensively consulted throughout the Territory, we did not have someone who was an expert in child protection legislation and practices from outside the Territory to have a fresh look at the legislation. Professor Scott agreed to do that. We engaged her to go through the legislation.
On the whole, it came up with a pretty strong tick. There were some areas within the legislation where she recommended improvements and enhancements. I then went into a series of discussions with my agency around those improvements. I also consulted with the Law Society again because they were very engaged in the process and had some additional views around some improvements to the draft legislation.
That work has now been done. The draft legislation has gone back to Parliamentary Counsel with the new advice of the changes government is looking for as a result of discussions with the Law Society and the recommendations of Professor Scott. I expect to receive that final version of the draft shortly from Parliamentary Counsel and will take that to Cabinet. I am hopeful of introducing legislation to this Chamber in either the November or February sittings.
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Braitling for her question. Rest assured, this government is intent on reforming the welfare legislation that is now some two decades old. It is a significant body of work. We are trying to move welfare legislation from very old practice – archaic practice in some instances - to modern best practice. You have to undertake a careful course of public consultation, which we have done.
When I became minister in 2005, that consultation had come to an end. There were some draft proposals for legislation that had been worked up. I took the opportunity of engaging expert advice from Professor Dorothy Scott of the Australian Centre for Child Protection at the University of South Australia, because I felt that, whilst we had intensively consulted throughout the Territory, we did not have someone who was an expert in child protection legislation and practices from outside the Territory to have a fresh look at the legislation. Professor Scott agreed to do that. We engaged her to go through the legislation.
On the whole, it came up with a pretty strong tick. There were some areas within the legislation where she recommended improvements and enhancements. I then went into a series of discussions with my agency around those improvements. I also consulted with the Law Society again because they were very engaged in the process and had some additional views around some improvements to the draft legislation.
That work has now been done. The draft legislation has gone back to Parliamentary Counsel with the new advice of the changes government is looking for as a result of discussions with the Law Society and the recommendations of Professor Scott. I expect to receive that final version of the draft shortly from Parliamentary Counsel and will take that to Cabinet. I am hopeful of introducing legislation to this Chamber in either the November or February sittings.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016