Legislative Assembly
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Legislative Assembly Wednesday, 10 June 2009 THE SPEAKER (Mr G.A. Woodhams) took the chair at 12 noon, and read prayers. SPEECH THERAPIST — TOM PRICE AND PARABURDOO Petition MR T.G. STEPHENS (Pilbara) [12.01 pm]: I present a petition with 387 signatures. The petition reads — To the Honourable the Speaker and Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Parliament of Western Australia in Parliament assembled. We the undersigned Residents call upon the ... Minister for Health, to ensure that the WA Department of Health proceeds immediately to employ a full time speech therapist to accommodate the growing increase of patients in the Tom Price and Paraburdoo region. We, the undersigned, wish to draw to the attention of the Legislative Assembly that a full time speech therapist is urgently needed to assist the many children within these townships who are in need of frequent visits with a therapist to encourage and support their ongoing speech development. At the moment less than 50% of patients are receiving the support and treatment they need and others are getting by without the proper treatment which can be detrimental to a child’s personal development and learning ability. More than 50% of patients are not receiving therapy due to the small time-frame of the fortnightly visits. Additionally, there is no support or a locum therapist when the fly-in/fly-out speech therapist is on leave. For families to continue to live in these regions we need the State Government to supply the basic medical needs required. The below petitioners therefore ask that the Legislative Assembly give the appropriate support for a full time speech therapist to be employed to service both Tom Price and Paraburdoo to provide ongoing professional support and assistance to many children missing out. [See petition 66.] Petition MR T.G. STEPHENS (Pilbara) [12.03 pm]: I present another petition, with 27 signatures, calling on the government to employ a full-time speech therapist to cater for the increase in patients in Tom Price and Paraburdoo who are missing out on this much-needed service. The petition conforms to the standing orders of the house. [See petition 67.] BANNISTER CREEK PRIMARY SCHOOL Petition MR W.J. JOHNSTON (Cannington) [12.04 pm]: I have a petition signed by 584 petitioners. The petition reads — To the Honourable the Speaker and Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Parliament of Western Australia in Parliament assembled. We, the undersigned, say: a) We believe that Bannister Creek Primary School would be improved if covered walkways were built between the new school buildings at the Purley Crescent site; b) That as covered walkways are already provided at the school’s current buildings at Karri Way, covered walkways should be included in the new buildings on a “like for like” basis; c) Covered walkways would assist with providing sun protection for children at the school; d) Covered walkways would also assist in wet weather for children moving between buildings; e) We believe covered walkways can be designed to allow adequate access for emergency vehicles; f) The best time to include covered walkways in the school is now, while the new school buildings are under construction. [ASSEMBLY - Wednesday, 10 June 2009] 4805 Now we ask the Legislative Assembly To support the inclusion of covered walkways into Bannister Creek Primary School’s new buildings. [See petition 68.] SHACK SITE COMMUNITIES Petition MR J.M. FRANCIS (Jandakot) [12.05 pm]: I have a petition signed by 140 petitioners and certified as conforming with the standing orders. The petition reads — To the Honourable the Speaker and Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Parliament of Western Australia in Parliament assembled. We the undersigned say that: Leased Shack Sites Communities, such as Wedge Island, Grey, Donnelly River, Broke Inlet, Dampier Archipelagos, and Israelite Bay have long been the traditional holiday/recreational destination for many thousands of ordinary Western Australians. Most Shack Site Communities sprung up to accommodate the gathering of farming and town based families to enjoy holidays together in remote and idyllic fishing locations right across Western Australia. Some Shack Site Communities went onto becoming fully-fledged towns such as, Bremer Bay, Jurien Bay, Dongara and Horrocks, while some Shack Site Communities have disappeared. Now we ask that the Legislative Assembly support our campaign for the Government to Examine how other States of Australia, including South Australia, Tasmania and New South Wales have retained conforming Shack Site Communities in order to preserve these valuable assets for many Western Australians to have affordable coastal holiday destinations and continue to allow human interaction all but lost in today’s society. [See petition 69.] PAPER TABLED A paper was tabled and ordered to lie upon the table of the house. MS JANINE PRITCHARD — APPOINTMENT TO STATE ADMINISTRATIVE TRIBUNAL Statement by Attorney General MR C.C. PORTER (Bateman — Attorney General) [12.08 pm]: Before I begin my brief ministerial statement, I would like to acknowledge the students from Queen of Apostles School in Riverton, who are in the gallery today. I inform the house that on 3 June 2009, the Governor in Executive Council appointed Ms Janine Pritchard of the State Solicitor’s Office as Deputy President of the State Administrative Tribunal for an initial term of five years. In accordance with section 112 of the State Administrative Tribunal Act, Ms Pritchard has also been made a judge of the District Court. After consultations with both the Chief Justice and the Chief Judge of the District Court, it was widely agreed that Her Honour’s professional accomplishments to date will put her in good stead to deal with the challenges her new position will entail. Having earned a Bachelor of Laws with Honours and a Bachelor of Arts from the Australian National University in Canberra, Her Honour then went on to gain her Master of Laws degree, with distinction, at the University of London. In addition, Her Honour also has a Graduate Diploma in Women’s Studies from Murdoch University. Her academic interests were also evident later in her career when, between 1993 and 2002 and while working for the State Solicitor’s Office of Western Australia, she taught international, constitutional and industrial law at the University of Western Australia, Murdoch University and Curtin University of Technology. Her Honour’s first position with the Western Australian state government was as professional assistant to the then Solicitor-General, Mr K. H. Parker, AC, QC. Two years later, she commenced articles with the SSO and was admitted as a barrister and solicitor of the Supreme Court in the same year. During her 16 years with the SSO, Her Honour performed a variety of duties. She acted as counsel and solicitor for the state in litigation, particularly in the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal. She appeared many times as junior counsel with the present Solicitor-General in the High Court of Australia on behalf of the state in constitutional matters, on several occasions even presenting the state’s argument to the court. Her Honour also provided legal advice to 4806 [ASSEMBLY - Wednesday, 10 June 2009] government on a variety of issues, but particularly public law, administrative law, constitutional law, freedom of information and privacy law, and industrial law, and in relation to the prosecutions of regulatory offences. Aside from her professional achievements, Her Honour has also taken a keen interest in mentoring the next generation of lawyers both within the SSO and in her capacity as a member of the Articled Clerk Recruitment Scheme Committee of the Law Society of Western Australia. She has also been a member of the Australian Association of Constitutional Law, the Australian Institute of Administrative Law and the committee of Women Lawyers of Western Australia Inc. I offer my congratulations to Ms Pritchard on her appointment as Deputy President of the State Administrative Tribunal and wish her luck in the challenges of her new position. NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT Statement by Minister for Agriculture and Food MR D.T. REDMAN (Blackwood-Stirling — Minister for Agriculture and Food) [12.10 pm]: The Liberal- National government takes seriously its role in natural resource management, which is defined as “the sustainable management of the land, water, atmosphere and biodiversity resources for the benefit of existing and future generations, and for the maintenance of life support capability of the biosphere”. It is in essence the sustainable use of our natural resources to provide for the needs of humanity, and in this way reflects the true triple bottom line of sustainable economic, social and environmental outcomes. As the lead minister for natural resource management, I have inherited the role of managing the state’s natural resource management activities. To be better informed on how the government might improve its performance in this area, I commissioned a review of natural resource management delivery in Western Australia. This review was chaired by Mr Garry English, a previous chair of the South Coast Natural Resource Management region. Garry was assisted by Mr David Hartley, who is now retired but was previously the executive director of natural resource management in the Department of Agriculture and Food, and Mr Craig Warner from the Department of Treasury and Finance. I would like to place on record my personal thanks to these people for their work on this report. The report was delivered to me on 27 February 2009, and I now table a copy of the report titled “Natural Resource Management Review — Western Australia”, and the government’s response to that report. [See paper 957.] Mr D.T. REDMAN: The state natural resource management review will now be released to the public for consideration and feedback.