“The most disturbing response came from Chief Minister Andrew Barr, who argued: ‘Ministers do not personally administer large and complex directorates.’ It seems the government missed the point,” writes political columnist MICHAEL MOORE. 

The ACT Legislative Assembly has issued Minister Yvette Berry with a yellow card. 

The widespread support for a censure motion should serve as a serious warning to her and to the government. 

Dissatisfaction with Ms Berry’s handling of the education and housing portfolios provided fertile ground for the Liberals and Greens to work together with the support of the two Independent MLAs. This highlights two major issues.

The first is exposing the disappointing knee-jerk reaction by the Greens Party and the Canberra Liberal Party to efforts by Mark Parton and Shane Rattenbury to frame the most effective way the non-Labor government members might work together. The second is determining the most effective way to handle ministerial failures.

Party hacks came out blasting the efforts by the leaders of the Greens and the Liberals in the Assembly to work towards an alternative to the Labor government. The alternative may never have been developed. However, sensible discussion would have been in the interest of the community rather than the ignorant reaction of these hacks.

The motion of censure put by Mark Parton and supported by the Greens illustrates that the parties in the Assembly can work together. It is not the first example. It is common in Assembly committees for the range of MLAs across all parties to find ways to work together and to compromise.

The censure motion put by Parton together with the Greens’ Jo Clay identified a range of issues in education and housing. Parton described an education “system plagued by confusion, inconsistency and poor communication” along with “a growing administrative burden pulling teachers away from classrooms”.

A major concern was that “despite repeated warnings from teachers, learning support assistants, principals, students and parents, the Minister for Education repeatedly claimed the system was performing strongly and dismissed calls for reform for years”. 

Berry pointed out, the ACT Public School System Resourcing Review that exposed these issues was conducted on her initiative. She also argued that the reforms are now being put in place to move administrative burdens from the schools into the department.

However, as Parton said in the Assembly: “Ministers must be responsible for outcomes” and, with regard to Ms Berry, “so many of the outcomes… are monumentally bad. They just are”.

He added that Berry has a “damning record” in her other portfolio area of housing, citing the outcomes of Auditor-General investigations, and “a Supreme Court finding that human rights were breached”. 

The joint sponsor of the motion, Jo Clay, who is the Leader of the Greens, acknowledged the “minister has begun to take steps”. 

However, she joined in putting the motion because “the minister has been telling us for a decade that the system is performing strongly. She has been denying the problem in the face of evidence for years, and it is not good enough. Our kids have suffered”. 

The annual school NATSEM reports reflect the deterioration of outcomes in our education system over the time that Labor has been in power. 

Clay also identified a series of “serious findings” about the inadequacy of public housing. Pointing out that only 71 per cent of public housing is of an acceptable standard. And the figure is 65 per cent for people with a disability. And this is after more than two decades of Labor governments.

‘We are interested in ministerial accountability’

In a fiery speech, she posed a series of rhetorical questions: “How many years do our tenants have to wait in substandard living conditions before their basic rights and needs are met? Will it be in another three years or another six years or another nine years? How many reports does it need before the minister will take action?”

Regarding the censure, she concluded that the Greens “have not come to this decision lightly. We are interested in ministerial accountability”.

Independent Fiona Carrick acknowledged “no one is suggesting these challenges are easy. They are complex”. She argued, “it requires driving solutions, advocating strongly, and responding with urgency when patterns become clear” rather than “a pattern of missed opportunities”.

In response, Berry argued: “I always own it when it goes wrong. I am not perfect by any means, but I turn up and I accept responsibility when I have got it wrong”.

However, the most disturbing response came from Chief Minister Andrew Barr, who argued: “Ministers do not personally administer large and complex directorates. They do not make every operational decision, manage every case or oversee every transaction personally”. 

It seems the government missed the point. Ministers are responsible for the outcomes of their portfolios, including systemic failures. This is why there is a red card pending.

Michael Moore is a former member of the ACT Legislative Assembly and an independent minister for health. He has been a political columnist with “CityNews” since 2006.