DOCSLIB.ORG

Questions Without Notice Kew Coit Ages

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Questions Without Notice Kew Coit Ages QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE Tuesday, 26 March 1991 ASSEMBLY 609 Tuesday, 26 March 1991 The SPEAKER (Hon. Ken Coghill) took the chair at 2.4 p.m. and read the prayer. QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE KEW COITAGES Mr BROWN (Leader of the Opposition) - I ask the Premier: will she give a guarantee that the appalling situation at Kew Cottages, where residents have been denied food because of the governmenfs mismanagement, is not occurring at any other government institution; or was this disgrace confined to discrimination against Victoria's disabled at Kew Cottages? The SPEAKER - Order! I advise the Leader of the Opposition that he may not include expressions of interest in his question. I ask h'm to rephrase the question. Mr BROWN - I ask the Premier: does she agree that the situation that all Victorians consider to be an absolute disgrace - namely, residents at Victoria's Kew Cottages having been denied food because of budgetary considerations - is unacceptable; will she guarantee that such discrimination has been confined only to Victorians at Kew Cottages; and what action does she propose to take to ensure that such a situation never arises again? Ms KIRNER (Premier) - I thank the Leader of the Opposition for his question, and I share his view that no reductions in budget should impinge on the diet or care of residents. As soon as she was infonned of the situation, the Minister for Community Services made sure that the food part of the budget has been restored, and I am informed that a similar situation does not exist at any other institution. But there was no need for it to take place in the first place; I must say that that is what I find so annoying. This area of disability has been an area that I have been interested in . now for some twenty years, since a previous Premier - prior to the honourable member for Bundoora - the Honourable Dick Hamer, actually led the Minus Children'S campaign after being persuaded by the Age to do so. It is not very pleasant for me as Premier to find any kind of discrimination against those with disabilities and I know the Minister shares that view. However, I point out that it is also not very appropriate for the opposition - and I am not suggesting this was the case with the Leader of the Opposition's question, but I have heard some comments around 77597/91-21 QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE 610 ASSEMBLY Tuesday, 26 March 1991 the place - to suggest that this is because the disability budget in Victoria has been seriously reduced and we are not meeting our commitments. I point out that, in fact, the total intellectual disabilities budget is $232 million and that there was a $26.3 million increase this year. If you go back through the years and examine the miserly amount that this lot opposite spent on intellectual disability and their absolutely gutless failure to take people out of institutions because they were not prepared to spend the money, you realise that our record overall stands as a first-class record, and we happen to know that it is the best in Australia. STATE DEBT Mr McNAMARA (Leader of the National Party) - I refer the Premier to the fact that the net debt of the State was budgeted to increase by $574 million despite the same Budget providing for asset sales of $3310 million, and I ask: how can this position be described as debt reduction? Ms KIRNER (Premier) - The opposition has the most considerable hide and the Leader of the National Party has the biggest. I cannot believe -- An honourable member interjected. Ms KIRNER - I do not think you should dine out on that compliment. The Victorian government set a clear target -- An honourable member interjected. Ms KIRNER - You can deny it if you like; it really does not worry me! The Victorian government set a $2.6 billion target for debt reduction; $2 billion has been allocated against that target this year and a significant portion of the $600 000 remaining would be met if the opposition, which pretends to have some view of the future, were prepared to pass the State Insurance Office legislation. I am happy to have a full debate on the question of debt in Victoria, but if we are going to have one let us have a real debate in which the opposition is prepared to say to the people of Victoria that it will put Victorians first and politics second and will allow the government to meet the debt reduction targets it has set. VICTORIA FIRST Mr MICALLEF (Springvale) - Will the Premier outline to the House the implications of today's Victoria First statement for the progress of the Victorian government's initiatives on micro-economic reform? Ms KIRNER (Premier) - The announcement I made today on the jobs and training package was important to ensuring that Victoria's skill base is protected and for encouraging private investment in Victoria. There are four major principles in the package. The first is to remove impediments to investment by the private sector. The second is to maintain the skills base of Victoria while it is in an economic downturn. This is extraordinarily important: in the 1982-83 QUESTIONS WITHOur NOTICE Tuesday, 26 March 1991 ASSEMBLY 611 downturn skills were lost because apprentices were lost to Victoria. The third is the reordering of the government's priorities to enable investment in jobs by government. The fourth is to assist the rural and provincial areas of the State. In terms of micro-economic reform - a term much used today as a buzz word - two major areas in the statement are: firstly, the national rail freight corporation. Australia has waited far too long for the creation of a national rail freight system and the government strongly supports creation of a national rail freight corporation. The government is determined the upgraded standard gauge rail line will run through Melbourne and that the headquarters of the very important corporation will be located here. The honourable member for Burwood arrives late in order to attract attention. It is very important that Victoria uses the natural advantages it possesses in the transport area to reform both rail freight and ports. The reforms on ports announced today are a major step forward. The government will encourage the private sector in the ports area to upgrade port facilities and boost productivity. As an important first step in that process we will be advising lessees that they will no longer have to pay increased rental on upgrading and improvements to the equipment they have added to a port. Previously, as honourable members would know, they have not only been upgrading the facilities, but have then been asked to pay extra for those facilities and then unable to on-sell. The government will cease that particular imposition on the private sector, as has occurred in New South Wales, which will generate - given that the port of Melbourne is larger than the port of Sydney - $80 million to $100 million of private investment in port infrastructure. This will, of course, speed up the turnaround in the port when there is new investment in our port products. Over the next twelve months the government will ensure that the Port of Melbourne Authority is reformed at the same pace as the stevedoring industry is being reformed by the Federal government, in cooperation with employers and unions. Indeed, the government would prefer to do it faster. A review on a revised port pricing structure is under way. The government will eliminate truck queuing which creates expensive delays; and will improve the port's information systems. They are only part of the important statements that I made today on the training and investment package. The overall commitment of the Victorian government in this package is $160 million for 1991 and 1992. Approximately 14000 young and older people who are out of work or who have insufficient work will be retrained and at least 5000 jobs will be generated directly and many more indirectly. That is the kind of practical and positive response that the Leader of the Opposition does not like to hear. I intend to keep talking about the positive actions that the government can take, and if the opposition is not prepared to put Victoria first it will be judged accordingly. QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE 612 ASSEMBLY Tuesday, 26 March 1991 KEW COlTAGES Mr RlOiARDSON (Forest Hill) - I direct my question to the Minister for Community Services and J refer her to the appalling situation at Kew Cottages where residents have been denied food because of the government's mismanagement. The SPEAKER - Order! I ask the honourable member to recommence his question and omit statements of opinion. Mr RlOiARDSON - I refer the Minister for Community Services to the situation at Kew Cottages where residents have been denied food because of the government's mismanagement and I ask: who made the decision to deny the residents food and what action has been taken to discipline that person? Mrs SETCHES (Minister for Community Services) - I have been appalled, as have other honourable members, at the incidents that have come to our attention regarding the reduction of the quality and the quantity of food offered to the residents at Kew Cottages. It is unacceptable, and the situation has been addressed and the amount of food has been increased. A dietitian has been asked to prepare a report, which has been sent to the Director-General of Community Services Victoria. At anyone time a number of people in institutions may reject food for a number of reasons.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Defining the Elephant: a History of Psychopathy, 1891-1959
    Defining the Elephant: a History of Psychopathy, 1891-1959 Susanna Elizabeth Evelyn Shapland Department of History, Classics and Archaeology Birkbeck, University of London Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, February 2019 1 DECLARATION I confirm that all material presented in this thesis is my own work, except where otherwise indicated. Signed .............................................. 2 ABSTRACT Although ‘psychopath’ is a term which is still in use by psychiatrists, it has come to be used as a way of dismissing individuals as irredeemably ‘bad’, untreatable or unpleasant, both by professionals and the public. This attitude is supported by existing histories of psychopathy that are in fact simply histories of the criminal personality, and rely upon retrofitting the diagnosis to historical examples of criminal or problematic behaviour to support their claims of psychopathy’s universal and timeless nature. This thesis disrupts that narrative. By examining the ways in which the terms psychopath, psychopathy and psychopathic are used in historical context, and how this changed over time, it challenges the idea of psychopathy as a fixed and value-free term, and reveals that there were multiple, competing versions of psychopathy in a history rich with contested meanings and overlapping usage. In analysing discussions of how psychopaths were diagnosed, managed and treated, it shows that the history of psychopathy is marked by a fundamental lack of agreement over the parameters of this ‘wastebasket’ diagnosis, which time and again proved too useful to discard. 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My thanks go first and foremost to my supremely patient supervisor, Joanna Bourke. Her inexhaustible enthusiasm and thought-provoking and perceptive feedback have been inspirational.
    [Show full text]
  • Community Safety : Mental Health and Criminal Justice Issues
    E 31V LAW COMMISSION Report No 30 Community Safety: Mental Health and Criminal Justice Issues August 1994 Wellington, New Zealand The Law Commission is an independent, publicly funded, central advi- sory body established by statute to undertake the systematic review, reform and development of the law of New Zealand. Its aim is to help achieve coherent and accessible laws that reflect the heritage and aspirations of New Zealand society. The Commissioners are: Sir Kenneth Keith KBE—President The Hon Justice Wallace Leslie H Atkins QC Professor Richard J Sutton Joanne Morris OBE The Director of the Law Commission is Alison Quentin-Baxter QSO. The office is at 89 The Terrace, Wellington. Postal address: PO Box 2590, Wellington, New Zealand 6001. Document Exchange Number 8434. Email: [email protected] Telephone: (04) 473 3453. Facsimile: (04) 471 0959. Report/Law Commission Wellington 1994 ISSN 00113-2334 This report may be cited as: NZLC R30 Also published as Parliamentary Paper E 31V ii CONTENTS Para Page Letter of transmittal . vi Terms of reference . vii OVERVIEW . 1 1 Background concepts and principles . 6 2 Protecting the community: mental health issues . 7 4 Protecting the community: criminal justice issues 21 9 Children and young persons . 42 13 1 INTRODUCTION . 43 15 2 BACKGROUND CONCEPTS AND PRINCIPLES 53 18 Dangerousness . 54 18 Human rights principles . 59 21 Human rights in the mental health context . 81 26 Detention: implications for different ethnic groups 85 27 Detention not the only option in protecting society 94 29 Guiding principles and propositions . 98 30 3 PROTECTING THE COMMUNITY: MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES .
    [Show full text]
  • Literature Review to Inform a Department of Human Services Project on Responding to People with High and Complex Needs
    Literature Review To Inform a Department of Human Services Project on Responding to People with High and Complex Needs 8 September 2002 Prepared by: Thomson Goodall Associates Pty Ltd 260 Dendy Street East Brighton Vic 3187 Tel: (03) 9592 5868 Fax: (03) 9553 8736 email: [email protected] Published by the Operations Division Victorian Government Department of Human Services Melbourne Victoria September 2002 Also published on www.dhs.vic.gov.au (C) Copyright State of Victoria, Department of Human Services 2002 This publication is copyright. No part may be reproduced by any process except in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright act 1 INTRODUCTION 1 Layout of the Review 2 2 DEFINING AND UNDERSTANDING COMPLEX NEEDS 4 2.1 Introduction 4 2.2 Homelessness Perspectives 5 2.3 Primary Care Perspectives 7 2.4 Disability Perspective 7 2.5 Dual Disability / Dual Disorder Perspective 9 2.6 Personality Disorder Perspectives 10 2.7 Child Protection 15 2.8 Aspergers Syndrome 18 2.9 Criminal Justice Involvement 18 2.10 Concluding Comment 19 3 GOVERNMENT POLICY FRAMEWORKS 20 3.1 Introduction 20 3.2 Deinstitutionalisation 20 3.3 National Policy Context (Australia) 25 3.4 Victoria - Policy and Program Development 26 Mental Health 26 Child and Adolescent Mental Health 27 Disability 27 Juvenile Justice 29 Drug treatment Services 29 The Working Together Strategy 30 Multi Service Client Project 30 Victorian Homelessness Strategy 30 3.5 Selected Policy Contexts of Other States and Territories 31 Western Australia 31 South Australia 31 Australian
    [Show full text]
  • A Jurisprudence of Dangerousness Christopher Slobogin
    Vanderbilt University Law School Scholarship@Vanderbilt Law Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications Faculty Scholarship 2003 A Jurisprudence of Dangerousness Christopher Slobogin Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarship.law.vanderbilt.edu/faculty-publications Part of the Law Commons Recommended Citation Christopher Slobogin, A Jurisprudence of Dangerousness, 98 Northwestern University Law Review. 1 (2003) Available at: http://scholarship.law.vanderbilt.edu/faculty-publications/233 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Faculty Scholarship at Scholarship@Vanderbilt Law. It has been accepted for inclusion in Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of Scholarship@Vanderbilt Law. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Copyright 2003 by Northwestern University School of Law Printed in U.S.A. Northwestern University Law Review Vol. 98, No. I Articles A JURISPRUDENCE OF DANGEROUSNESS ChristopherSlobogin" INTRODUCTION Leroy Hendricks is on the verge of release from prison after serving his fifth sentence for child molestation. He candidly tells his court-appointed evalua- tors that, if released, the only sure way he will stop molesting children is "to die."' Garry David, diagnosed with anti-social personality disorder, is nearing the end of his 14-year sentence for shooting a woman and two police officers, conduct that occurred just after being released from prison for a previous vio- lent offense. While in prison, he assaulted more than 15 inmates and guards, conduct which increased his sentence. A court found that, if released, "[h]is underlying anger and resentment would be almost certain 2to rise to an explo- sive level as soon as he felt thwarted or subjected to stress.", Zacarias Moussaoui, a French-Moroccan known to have trained in Osama bin Laden's camps in Afghanistan, tried to pay $8,000 for flying lessons prior to September 11, 2001, stating that he was only interested in learning how to handle an aircraft (not take-off or land).
    [Show full text]
  • Inquiry Into Mental Disturbance and Community Safety Interim Report
    SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE Inquiry into Mental Disturbance and Community Safety Interim Report Strategies To Deal With Persons With Severe Personality Disorder Who Pose A Threat To Public Safety LOAN COPY (PLEASE RETURN TO THE PROCEDURE OFFICE) May 1990 PARLIAMENT OF VICTORIA SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE INTERIM REPORT upon the INQUIRY INTO MENTAL DISTURBANCE AND COMMUNITY SAFETY STRATEGIES TO DEAL WITH PERSONS WITH SEVERE PERSONALITY DISORDER WHO POSE A THREAT TO PUBLIC SAFETY No. 131 National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry Victoria. Parliament. Social Development Committee. Interim report upon inquiry into mental disturbance and community safety. Bibliography. Includes index. ISBN 0 7241 9655 2. 1. Insane, Criminal and dangerous. 2. Insane, Criminal and dangerous Services for - Victoria. 3. Mentally handicapped and crime - Victoria. I. Title. 364.3809945 SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE MEMBERSHIP Mrs. Margaret E. Ray, MP Chairperson The Hon. Geoffrey P. Connard, MLC Deputy Chairperson The Hon. Geoffrey R. Craige, MLC The Hon. Licia Kokocinski, MLC Mr. Michael A. Leighton, MP The Hon. Robert R.C. Maclellan, MP Mr. Noel J. Maughan, MP Mr. Edward J. Micallef, MP Dr. Denis V. Napthine, MP Dr. Gerard M. Vaughan, MP Mr. Thomas W. Wallace, MP Mrs. Janet T.C. Wilson, MP Research Staff Administration Ms L.W. Craze, Senior Research Officer Mr. G. H. Westcott, Secretary Mr T. D'Abbs, Consultant Mrs. L. Grogan, Stenographer/WPO Mrs. L. Fonseca, StenographerA/VPO RECOMMENDATIONS The Committee recommends: 1 . The rejection of the recommendation of the Law Reform Commission of Victoria's report entitled The Concept of Mental Illness in the Mental Health Act 1986'.
    [Show full text]
  • High Risk Offenders: Post-Sentence Supervision and Detention
    High-Risk Offenders: Post-Sentence Supervision and Detention Discussion and Options Paper January 2007 Sentencing Advisory Council Published by the Sentencing Advisory Council Melbourne Victoria Australia. © Copyright State of Victoria, Sentencing Advisory Council, January 2007. This publication is protected by the laws of copyright. No part may be reproduced by any process except in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth). National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication Victoria. Sentencing Advisory Council. High-risk offenders : post-sentence supervision and detention: discussion and options paper. Bibliography. Includes index. ISBN 9781921100079. ISBN 1 921100 07 9. 1. Recidivists - Victoria. 2. Detention of persons - Victoria. 3. Preventive detention - Victoria. 4. Sentences (Criminal procedure) - Victoria. 5. Criminal behavior, Prediction of - Victoria. I. McSherry, Bernadette. II. Title. 364.309945 Also published on www.sentencingcouncil.vic.gov.au Authorised by the Sentencing Advisory Council, 4/436 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne. Printed by Big Print, 520 Collins Street, Melbourne. The publications of the Sentencing Advisory Council follow the Melbourne University Law Review Association Inc Australian Guide to Legal Citations (2nd edn, 2002). ii High-Risk Offenders: Post-Sentence Supervision and Detention Discussion and Options Paper Contents Preface ix Abbreviations xii Have Your Say xiv Warning to Readers xiv Questions xv Chapter 1: Background 1 Our Terms of Reference 1 The Council’s Approach 2 Issues
    [Show full text]
  • Madness, Badness, and Evil 135
    Madness, Badness, and Evil 135 Chapter 7 Madness, Badness, and Evil Deidre N. Greig BACKGROUND The “mad” vs “bad” debate raises fundamental difficulties for the inter- action of psychiatry and the law. In one sense the separation of these two states is quite clear. Those who are mad are not responsible for their actions commit- ted as a consequence of their mental state and should be located within treat- ment parameters on the grounds that their behavior is unlikely to have been conscious, intentional, and voluntary. On the other hand, those who are bad are handled within the confines of the criminal justice system with the prime object being punishment for their transgressions. These boundaries are not as discrete as they might at first appear. Should behavior be excessively depraved and grossly cruel then there is a temptation to add “evil” to the mix, as if this is the unifying link between the two. Although this term is readily invoked in the public domain, both lawyers and psychiatrists cannot escape the influence of ordinary fears and perceptions, especially when behavior is intransigent and resistant to management strategies. It is this mad/bad/evil trajectory that is reviewed in this chapter. * * * Just over a decade ago the case of a man with a severe personality disor- der posed acute difficulties for the criminal justice and mental health systems in Victoria, Australia, leading one psychiatrist to inform the Supreme Court that it was Garry David’s perception of his own evilness that contributed to From: Forensic Psychiatry: Influences of Evil Edited by: T.
    [Show full text]
  • Psychopathy, Mental Illness and Preventive Detention: Issues Arising from the David Case*
    Psychopathy, Mental Illness and Preventive Detention: Issues Arising from the David Case* INTRODUCTION The case of Garry David (otherwise know as Garry Webb) has been a focus for some of the most intractable issues of law, ethics and medicine. The decision of the Supreme Court allowing the Attorney-General of Victoria's application for an order for David's continued detention under the Community Protec- tion Act 1990 (Vic) has by no means reduced the controversy surrounding the case. David himself remains an enigma, at once both frightening and pathetic, a living challenge to generally held beliefs as to the proper functioning of the legal system and the scope of the profession of psychiatry. The aim ofthe present article is to provide an account of the David case and to attempt a partial resolution of some of the issues raised by it. These issues include the nature of mental illness and psychopathy, the role of the pro- fession of psychiatry and its relation to the criminal justice system, the criteria and procedures to be adopted in respect of civil commitment to psychiatric hospitals, the principles to be applied in determining when and for how long persons representing a danger to the community may be incarcerated, and the arguments for and against a general system of preventive detention. In considering the David case and the more general issues it raises in relation to psychopathy and commitment to psychiatric institutions, medical knowledge should be taken as the starting point from which reasoning pro- ceeds. This view is simply an application of the basic proposition that theory must be based upon and accommodate facts; facts should not be manipulated to fit theory.
    [Show full text]