Page 3180 - Week 10 - Tuesday, 18 October 2022
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
government knows for certain that it is not providing universal access to these families. At the same time, the government has refused to track the data that would allow it to be measured and improve its performance. As a direct result, many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families are not accessing family group conferencing. Inevitably, some of their children will enter care and protection when this does not need to happen. The inescapable message to community and others who care deeply about this matter is that the ACT government do not really care at all. It is all just lip-service for them. This is not good governance. It is, however, a hallmark of this Labor-Greens government.
I offer a further example from the recent budget estimates process. Last year community stakeholders reported to me that they had seen a large increase in low income families seeking autism assessments for young people aged 12 and above. The problem is that, unlike the governments in Tasmania, Western Australia, South Australia, Queensland and the Northern Territory, the ACT government does not provide autism screening once children turn 12. Consequently, in a motion, I asked those opposite to join me in calling on the government to begin offering assessments to low income families with older children, as happens in other jurisdictions. I also wanted to ask the government to improve data collection regarding how many families experience delayed diagnosis of autism, because, as Australian experts have noted, it is difficult to improve early diagnosis unless one knows the extent and cause of late diagnosis.
Greens-sponsored amendments to the motion acknowledged the surge in low income families seeking autism assessments for older children but completely removed my call for these families to have increased access to government assessments. They also struck out my request for improved data collection—maybe because if data does not exist, there is no problem. Such an approach by a government is blind, foolish and heartless. So in estimates hearings I asked Minister Berry how much of this budget’s increase in funding will help to achieve the outcome of increased awareness of autism. The answer was none. I likewise asked what innovative ways the government is exploring to increase awareness and early assessment. Answer: nothing it was not already doing. I also asked if the government had started seeking data regarding low income families needing assessments for older children, whether from stakeholders or internally. The answer, as you should be able to guess by now, was also a big no.
Once again, if there is no data on this issue then the problem does not exist, right? How foolish. The evidence is already out there. Stakeholders report that increasing numbers of low income families are seeking assistance to obtain autism assessments for their older children. So we have a situation where Labor and the Greens have unanimously acknowledged a surge in low income families who have missed out on early autism assessments, but this government has not only refused to assist these families; it does not even want to know who they are or how many of them there are. It has no intention of finding out why they were missed because—and let us just be honest here for a moment—this is a government that, despite its outward support for the amended motion last year, has zero intention of exploring innovative ways to improve its service delivery; those are just words after all. ACT Labor and the Greens have perfected the art of speaking words they have no intention whatsoever of acting
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video