Vicki Dunne MLA Member for Ginninderra Shadow Attorney-General Shadow Minister for Family and Community Services; Nature Conservation and Water; Industrial Relations; Women; and the Arts Manager of Opposition Business Media Release Wednesday 14 September 2011

BURCH SHOWS SHE’S UNFIT FOR MINISTRY - AGAIN Joy Burch has proven once again why she is unfit to be the Minister responsible for the ACT’s most vulnerable young people, today showing she is more concerned with her media image than actually managing her portfolio, according to ACT Shadow Community Services Minister Vicki Dunne. “I wrote to Joy Burch raising serious concerns with her Directorate‟s dealings with a service provider, which were a possible breach of the Children and Young People Act,” Mrs Dunne said. “I was concerned that the Community Services Directorate had asked a service provider to undertake emergency residential care for children despite the fact they hadn‟t provided this service before and did not appear to be a „suitable entity‟ in under Section 63 of the Act. “This whole issue has been caused by the administrative and process failures of the Minister‟s Directorate. “Instead of responding to my letter, Joy Burch attempted to diffuse this damaging situation via press release. “As with the Bimberi Youth Justice Centre, the Minister once again has no idea of how the organisations she‟s responsible for actually operate and her first recourse is to the media. “For a Minister responsible for the ACT‟s most vulnerable young people to deal with such a serious matter in this way is absolutely disgraceful,” Mrs Dunne concluded.

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