2017-12-22
Hon Alison Xamon
It has been a busy few months, not least with the fantastic result in the Postal Survey on Marriage Equality and subsequent passing of equality legislation. I was in Sydney on Committee business when the Yes vote was announced. The passing of non-discriminatory legislation three weeks later was the icing on the cake and the apex of a long-running campaign stretching many years. My sincerest congratulations and thanks to all those members who have for a long time campaigned for equality.
Due to the sheer number of portfolios I hold I am always involved with a great number of issues and this period has been no different. December brought the good news that the Government would finally provide some certainty to the disability sector and announced WA would join the Federal NDIS. On 1 November, some six weeks before the announcement, I brought forward a motion in the Parliament calling on the Government to end the uncertainty and to ensure that people with disability were at the centre of the design of the scheme. After the announcement, I urged the Government to ensure all implementation processes are transparent and reiterated the importance for the scheme to be co-designed.
Just before Christmas, and after Parliament had risen, the Government announced it was cutting $68m from the education budget. As a result I have been speaking out against some of the worst of the decisions including the proposed closure of School of the Air and school camps, cuts to our Gifted and Talented programs, and the closure of Canning and Tuart Colleges. I am anticipating that the issue of the cuts will be an ongoing one. In the meantime TAFE Colleges are now having to drastically reduce their budgets following the Federal Governments decision to walk away from funding general training.
Much has been going on within my Corrective Services portfolio as the Auditor General released a damning report in November which showed the Government was failing to provide adequate treatment services for prisoners with addictions. A second report the same month showed it was also failing to divert vulnerable young people away from the court system.
I continue to raise in Parliament, and through the media, the desperate need for reform in our youth justice system. All the available evidence demonstrates that addressing offending behaviour in children requires a therapeutic and rehabilitative approach. WA needs to be looking at more successful youth justice models from around the world, and considering the recommendations from the Royal Commission into the Protection and Detention of Children in the Northern Territory. I have also had to raise specific concerns about problems between the justice system and people with mental impairment.
Ive used the various Parliamentary proceedings to speak on number of other issues including the continued uncertainty over WAs training budget, the alarming cuts to the public sector, the humanitarian crisis on Manus Island, the expungement of homosexual convictions, the lack of palliative care in rural WA and more.
Ive spoken on several bills, including the School Curriculum and Standards Authority Amendment Bill, which deals with the establishment of NAPLAN online and raises issues about the ethics of releasing Government data. I urged the Government to commit to introducing comprehensive privacy legislation. Other Bills debated included the Salaries and Allowances Amendment Bill, Dangerous Sexual Offenders Legislation Amendment Bill and Domestic Violence Orders (National Recognition) Bill.
As part of my work in my Electorate, I revealed through questions in Parliament that 1,001 Western Australians made submissions against the clearing of 1.52ha of land at Shenton Park Rehabilitation Hospital. NONE of the submissions received by the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation supported it. This speaks volumes about the very strong will of the community that our few remaining patches of bushland be retained.
Elsewhere in the Electorate, the Government finally signed off on the City of Vincents Town Planning Scheme Number 2, which will rezone land at Claisebrook Road North and oblige two concrete batching plants to eventually move. This will allow the precinct to reach its potential, develop in line with the rest of East Perth and demonstrate the effectiveness of urban infill. Im pleased the Government has eventually seen sense on this long-standing issue, though I do think it has been too generous in allowing the plants to stay until 2024.
I also supported and spoke to the City of Joondalup Animals Amendment Local Law 2016 Disallowance motion, which means that the Horse Beach at Hillarys will re-open for a few hours every morning. Closing the horse beach with no realistic alternative is not only a massive reduction in service, but would not solve the parking issue at the heart of the decision.
Ive been travelling for the best part of the last couple of months – to Broome for the Rural and Remote Mental Health Conference, Sydney for an anti-corruption conference and to the Greens national conference and AGM in Hobart. When Ive been in Perth, Ive attended a number of events including the Friends of Bold Park Book launch, Pride at Parliament (which I co-hosted) and the Pride Parade, the Stop Live Exports rally on Fremantle Traffic Bridge, the Refugee Rights Action Network (RRAN) Manus Island rally, the Law Society of WA Addressing Elder Abuse forum, the Anti-Poverty Networks March Against Poverty and the CPSU End-of-Year celebration and Delegates Awards amongst other events.
Wishing you all a happy and safe festive season. I look forward to continuing to represent you in 2018 and, hopefully, getting a permanent (and disability accessible!) Electorate Office.
Header photo: Alison with the National Mental Health Commissioners at the Rural and Remote Mental Health Conference.