Page 1655 - Week 08 - Thursday, 28 September 1989
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Indeed, in July this year, the human rights commissioner, Brian Burdekin, drew attention to the fact that abused and disturbed children were being flick-passsed from one crisis centre to another. The Government should accept it as a matter of great shame that Commissioner Burdekin was able to cite evidence of one Canberra refuge where, of the 160 young people who had been accommodated over time, few had received follow-up contact to find out what had happened to them, some were subsequently traced, and at least four were identified as having committed suicide within 18 months of leaving the refuge.
There are deep and compelling reasons why the Follett Government should have allocated more than $150,000 for the youth outreach worker program to provide personalised information support and job planning services for long-term unemployed teenagers and youth with disabilities. The allocation of the $150,000 is insufficient when compared with other materialistic projects approved in the construction budget.
A similar lack of conscience has been shown in provisions for psychiatrically ill alleged offenders in the community. What the Rally sought was a purpose-built facility for the mentally ill while they were being assessed and for mentally ill remandees. Instead, we have seen another cosmetic device - a 24-hour direct access service at Woden Valley Hospital and special accommodation being provided. Those accommodation arrangements were not spelt out. The Rally submitted very strongly that we should not grasp on to the existing stretched resources which were not purpose designed. There are very real practical problems of safe custody and proper facilities for assessment of the alleged mental health offenders.
In fact, building a mental health facility or converting existing facilities is a very high priority in the community. It has been called for by a variety of interest groups, including the courts and lawyers, and this would have been a positive aspect of a construction budget. Instead, money has again gone to less compelling projects.
Budget paper No. 9, Mr Speaker, the women's budget statement, which I assume Ms Follett sees as her chance to grasp at a small but unique role in history, is an important initiative which should be welcomed. We are pleased with aspects of the statement, such as the move to assist women's business enterprises to become established. We are well aware that women have been discriminated against in matters such as loan applications where, unlike men, they have been expected to bring their spouses in for interview and guarantees and assurances have been demanded of them which often no man would be asked to provide.
Women are still often thought of, in some circles, as having less business acumen than their male counterparts. Even so, we do not see much point in allocating $150,000 to provide women with advice on obtaining finance. Banks and
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