Elana Geddes and Sara Hellsing from the ANU school of art have been awarded the Legislative Assembly art prize as a part of the the emerging artist support scheme (EASS), announced Vicki Dunne today.
‘2012 graduates, painter Elana Geddes and glass artist, now Honours student, Sara
Hellsing are among the school’s most talented artists. I am very [...]

OK, here’s where this has come from for those coming in late.
New speaker Liberal Vicki Dunne decided she wanted a church service to start the Assembly sitting year. This happens for the big kids on the Hill.
Instead of lightly canvassing her colleagues for support she sent out official invitations first and then when Chief [...]

Just before Christmas we took notice of a strange little spat being fought out by proxy between Speaker Dunne, who wants a little church service to start the Assembly sitting year, and Chief Minister Gallagher who doesn’t want a bar of it.
The row is now running on the UK’s National Secular Society.
Ms Gallagher said on [...]

The Australian Christian Lobby is having a squawk after new speaker Vicki Dunne has been rebuffed in her efforts to have a church service kick off the Assembly year on 11 February.
The ACL has just become aware of a letter by ACT Chief Minister Ms Gallagher in which she declined the Speaker of the [...]

The Liberals Zed Seselja is celebrating the ascension of Vicki Dunne to the Speaker’s chair in the Legislative Assembly:
“I am very proud to not only lead the biggest Liberal Party Room in the Territory’s history, but also for a member of our team to be given the opportunity to serve as Speaker of the ACT [...]

The Liberals have announced their plans to make life easier for liquor licensees that aren’t the Labor Club:
A Canberra Liberals Government will:
– Immediately abolish the requirement for establishments that operate solely as restaurants and cafes to complete and submit a Risk Assessment Management Plan.
– Review the requirement for Risk Assessment Management Plans for accommodation providers [...]

Laughing at the homophobic rants of sad nut Philip Pocock was good fun.
With Pocock’s extended views vilifying women and the sexual activities of the vast majority of the population it was easy for everyone to stand together and feel better about ourselves at his expense.
But Andrew Barr’s decided now’s the time to drive the [...]

Zed Seselja and Vicki Dunne have pushed out an arts policy:
if elected, a Canberra Liberals Government will:
– Commit an extra $2.4 million to enable the Cultural Facilities Corporation to develop the Kingston Arts Precinct, including a purpose-built facility for Megalo Print Studio + Gallery. This will ensure the heritage value of the Fitters’ Workshop is [...]

The Liberals’ Vicki Dunne has decided it’s time she told the Federales how to spend their money.
Specifically she wants more Commonwealth money for the Canberra Symphony Orchestra:
ACT Shadow Arts Minister Vicki Dunne will today call on the Legislative Assembly to support a motion which calls on the Federal Government to increase funding for the Canberra [...]

Following the Greens’ announcement yesterday of their $30.5 million program to keep Canberra’s water features healthy, Vicki Dunne (ACT Shadow Nature Conservation and Water Minister) has accused them of spending money they don’t have in an attempt to achieve something they can’t do.
“It appears the ACT Greens have committed to spending money that hasn’t been [...]

Speaker Rattenbury has adjudicated on the childish squabbling about Alistair Coe and Vicki Dunne’s publicly funded newsletters:
In examining the matter I have ascertained that the advice of the Secretariat’s Corporate Services Office was sought on the content of a proposed publication before it was printed but that the published version included additional material that was [...]

The Canberra Liberals are celebrating a big win for them getting the Greens to smash up Labor’s Joy Burch and her decision to ignore committee recommendations about the future of the Fitters’ Workshop.
The Canberra Liberals today received majority Assembly support for a motion calling on ACT Labor to make the Fitters’ Workshop a multi-purpose facility. [...]

As promised the ANU Choral Society (spelt backwards as SCUNA) were protesting in song at the Legislative Assembly this lunchtime.
Meanwhile the Liberals’ Vicki Dunne is seeking to team up with the Greens to force a U-Turn out of the Arts Minister Joy Burch.
“Arts Minister Joy Burch has disregarded the community and the Assemblys’ wishes in [...]

The Liberals’ Vicki Dunne has announced she’s moving No Confidence in the Community Services Minister Joy Burch after some pretty horrible neglect of children in care has come to light.
“In 2004 the Vardon Report found children were in a ‘system which has been failing, staff with workloads that simply could not be met, adversarial attitudes [...]

The Liberals’ Vicki Dunne is once again making hay from the public advocate’s assessment of the minor matter of child protection.
Under Joy Burch as Minister, the Public Advocate today found that:
– ‘Front line staff within the Care and Protection Service…were battling against systems that failed to support them…. (p8)
– ‘…lack of proper recording of the [...]

The Liberal’s Vicki Dunne is firing up about plans to spend $2 million of money that would go to community sector organisations on teaching them to be more efficient instead.
“I have become aware the ACT Labor Government plans to strip $2 million from community service organisations over four years to fund a government taskforce which [...]

The Liberals’ Vicki Dunne is starting to ask some useful questions about the public art program:
Since 2007, the ACT Labor Government has spent on average around $4,300 each day on street sculptures, ACT Shadow Arts Minister Vicki Dunne said today.
“The 37 works I have been able to identify which have been installed across the [...]

The Liberals’ Vicki Dunne is huffing and puffing to the ABC about the results of her epic FOI haul into correspondence between the Human Rights Commission and The Greens:
Liberal MLA Vicki Dunne says emails, released under freedom of information, show the Greens sought advise from the Human Rights Commission on questions to ask during parliamentary [...]

The Liberals’ Vicki Dunne has taken the very brave step of announcing she’s going to try and block the construction of a childcare centre in Holder:
In 2008, the ACT Labor Government promised two new childcare centres at a cost of $4 million. Neither has been built, but the government now wants to spend almost double [...]

The Canberra Liberals have sent forth the official announcement of their candidates for the October election, written with Leader Zed Seselja as the speaker:
“In Brindabella, Brendan Smyth and I will be very well supported by Tharwa community hero Val Jeffrey, small businessman Andrew Wall, and Community sector CEO Nicole Lawder.
“In Ginninderra, Alistair Coe and Vicki [...]

The Liberals’ Vicki Dunne is making hay from the latest in a long line of reviews into child protection in the ACT:
As the ACT Labor Government launches yet another review into care and protection, it is clear that the only way to fix the systems entrenched problems is through a change of government, according [...]

Apparently somewhere in the ACT Treasury resides a document claiming that Canberra is ‘Australia’s most affordable capital city’.
This has prompted the Liberals’ Vicki Dunne to let rip:
“In my electorate, the median house price in Canberra’s cheapest suburb of Charnwood is more than $160,000 higher than the equivalent suburb in Sydney (Canberra Times, 15 December 2011). [...]

This morning Joy Burch announced that *only* 3% of children in protection hadn’t been sighted by a case worker in the last year. This is after they went through the paperwork to figure out the right number.
The Liberals Vicki Dunne reckons this is a cold comfort:
Instructions from Joy Burch that her Directorate should keep better [...]

In November the Liberals’ Vicki Dunne claimed that 59% of young people in care had not been seen by their own caseworkers in over a year, based on Annual Review Reports for 202 young people and children.
Joy Burch is now assuring us that this is a misrepresentation of reports that weren’t intended to be used [...]

In the continuing stoush between Labor’s Joy Burch and the Liberals’ Vicki Dunne we’re back to the subject of childcare.
Vicki opened up with a go about the cost of the business.
Joy Burch was today forced to admit that the cost of childcare will increase by five times her original estimate under Labor’s childcare reforms, according [...]

Labor MLA Joy Burch has had a go at Liberal MLA Vicki Dunne again over childcare.
As part of the ongoing deathmatch Burch accused the Liberals of trying to “quietly abandon their policy” on childcare.
She said:
“The alternative plan from the Opposition is to create one big childcare waiting list, a policy which families don’t want, the [...]

The Liberals’ Vicki Dunne has brought more bad news on the child protection front:
Fifty nine per cent of young people in out-of-home care may not have been physically sighted by their caseworkers in a year, the ACT Public Advocate highlighted yesterday in an Assembly Committee Annual Reports hearing.
“During 2010-11, the Public Advocate examined 371 annual [...]

The Liberals have got their Laura Norder mojo on having secured support for new laws bringing in tougher penalties for culpable driving and manslaughter.
“I am pleased that the majority of the Assembly has indicated they will support these practical and necessary penalty increases which reflect community expectations,” ACT Shadow Attorney General Vicki Dunne said today.
“The [...]

Vicki Dunne’s pursuit of Joy Burch continues this morning with an examination of the service providers waiting to be paid for their important work with vulnerable children:
“Joy Burch wrote to me asking for details about my comments about her Directorate’s payment issues, instead of seeking this basic information from the Directorate itself,” Mrs Dunne said [...]

Liberal Vicki Dunne is calling for openness from the investigation into child protection in the ACT.
“I’m very glad to see this review is going ahead after Joy Burch’s disgraceful treatment of vulnerable children who were forced into accommodation with no beds, hot water, or heating and glass on the floor,” Mrs Dunne said.
“But what [...]

Last week the Liberals’ Vicki Dunne stole a march on Labor’s Joy Burch revealing lapses in child protection protocols which sparked an investigation.
But there was some backstory we didn’t think was particularly relevant at the time.
The Liberal head flack Hannah Passfield sent us copies of Ms Dunne’s correspondence with the media release, which we duly [...]

Following this morning’s surprise announcement that an investigation into the placing of children into care in the ACT was both needed and now underway, the Liberals’ Vicki Dunne has weighed in with some back story:
“I wrote to Joy Burch raising serious concerns with her Directorate?s dealings with a service provider, which were a possible breach [...]