Page 3112 - Week 09 - Thursday, 13 October 2022
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The Acton fire station, previously promised to be operational during this budget year, is still in the development stage, with funding for construction phased out for another two years. We can no doubt expect the same for the Molonglo emergency services centre, which continues to be in the planning phase. There is, of course, the major promise of funding—sometime in the future, though—announced in this year’s budget. But that will no doubt go the way of the Acton station and the Gungahlin JESC—lots of promises, yet still waiting on delivery.
The minister also intends to recruit new firefighters, which is wonderful to hear, to fulfil their promise of an additional 99. In a question taken on notice, the minister mentioned that 70 had graduated, but he did not state how many had been employed.
However, the issue of most concern is how we support our existing emergency services personnel. The budget did not give specific breakdowns of spending on support for mental health, particularly those suffering from PTSD amongst our emergency services workers.
With respect to the programs and initiatives that have been identified that focus on the mental health of emergency services workers, I have two questions: is it enough? And is it effective? Firstly, is the spending enough to address the problem? Volunteer levels have been decreasing since 2018, yet the government has not investigated whether this could be due to PTSD or mental health concerns amongst emergency services personnel. This is just one example of the potential underlying problem in emergency services, yet the government has not committed to investigating the scale of the problem and whether there is enough being spent.
Secondly, is the spending effective? The estimates hearings revealed several ways in which emergency services workers could slip through the cracks. One example is redeployment. A drop in remuneration from leaving shiftwork can force emergency services workers to make a difficult decision between redeploying to support recovery and retaining the income that their families rely on. The government pointed to compensation as a potential solution. The question I would like answered is: how long does it take for emergency services workers to get their claims approved, and what can the ACT government do in the meantime to support them?
All of this points to the need for more clarity on the scale of the issue and greater research into the effectiveness of interventions. We need a targeted, focused approach to spending on mental health for emergency services personnel which critically examines whether the initiatives proposed are truly doing enough.
MRS KIKKERT (Ginninderra) (5.54): I rise to speak about the state of corrections in the ACT. Over the past year the government have made initial improvements in mental health supports for corrections officers, following my motion in August 2021. In that motion I called for the government to enhance wellbeing and mental health support. They have now engaged a specialist counsellor with a background in corrections to counsel corrections officers. The subsequent announcement this year of $12 million to improve conditions and the workplace culture of the AMC is welcome, and I look forward to seeing this money spent wisely.
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