children

The Iemma Government is proposing tough new anti-smoking measures aimed at protecting kids from the dangers of smoking.

We have released a discussion paper "Protecting Children from Tobacco" which proposes:

The Attorney General, John Hatzistergos today announced that the Labor Government will introduce laws that give parental recognition to lesbians who have kids together. The government will also move on an additional 50 laws to extend equal rights to same sex defacto couples.

This is important reform that gives children of lesbian parents equal rights in workers compensation and victim compensation payments, inheritance rights, recognition of both parents by schools and health authorities.

With these wise words from Daniel Swaine I attended the opening session of the NSW Anti Homophobia Interagency Conference - That's So Gay. Daniel spoke eloquently of the experience of students in our schools and the need for our school systems to tackle hompohobia head on to provide safety and recognition of identity for same sex attracted young people.

The conference also heard from Azlan Currie. Azlan is a primary school student from northern NSW who happens to have two mums. She gave a very funny insight into her life and how she explains the ordinary to those who consider her life extraordinary.

There are a number of reviews and inquiries being conducted across government. If you would like to contribute to any or all of these, here are the relevant links:

• Special Commission into Child Protection Services
• Special Commission into patient care within the NSW Health System
• Planning Reform for Local Councils - Have your say

Apparently having a Premier with small children who actually spends time with them is a bad thing.  Yesterday the Sunday Telegraph asked the question: if the Premier is home by 6pm to bath the kids does that mean that he is not working hard enough for the state?

For the dinosaurs of the Liberal Party - Greiner and Hewson - having failed relationships and kids you barely knew was a sacrifice that you have to make for leadership. For their sacrifice do we believe that they did a better job than Morris is doing - of course not.

In 1998 the Labor government established the Commission for Children and Young People (CCYP). The Commission plays a vital role in advising government on the welfare, wellbeing and safety of young people and children in NSW.

CCYP’s latest report, What about the kids? provides an excellent overview of what needs to be done to improve the experiences of babies and young children in Australia. The report provides evidence based recommendations that would make a difference immediately. These include:

• quality childcare with strong regulation
• workplace action to provide for family responsibilities

Does anyone else think it is an outrage that the Federal government is going to spend $50 million making childcare centres install swipe cards and PIN systems?

While waiting lists grow and high quality community based centres are stretched to the limit, the Feds think that what is needed is a crackdown on fraud and more measuring of demand to try and identify the problem.

Everyone know what the problems are, lack of places, lack of resources, poor pay for staff, the move into making children a profit based industry and basically a lack of political will to provide what is actually an essential service for both families and the economy.

Posted Friday 7 July 06

The NSW Department of Community Services (DoCS) is currently undertaking a review of the Adoption Act 2000.

The review will examine all aspects of the Adoption Act. My submission argues that same sex couples should not be excluded from applying to adopt on the basis that:

• Exclusion of same sex couples under NSW adoption law overrides consideration of children’s best interest principles
• Exclusion of same sex couples from adoption services has negative legal and social implications for some children
• Arbitrary exclusion of same sex couples from adoption services is not compatible with human rights

Posted Monday 5 June 06

Parental responsibility laws aim to reduce juvenile crime and antisocial behaviour by getting parents to ‘take responsibility’ for their children.

The Government and the Opposition have both indicated (in different ways) that they will seek to make changes to current arrangements but as yet there is little detail.

The Parliamentary Library has just published a report about Parental Responsibility Laws.

The paper covers programs and legislation in Australia and the UK.

The paper also provides an overview of the arguments.

 In favour: