Page 2666 - Week 09 - Thursday, 9 August 1990
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Acting Speaker, it is not the words in Beyond the Burdekin Report that are of concern. In most cases the Government has simply lifted our words. However, we are concerned about what the Government has not said. What is its hidden agenda? History teaches us that when it comes to social justice you cannot trust a Liberal government. Let me give the Assembly an example. Part of the Follett Government's response to recommendation 15.5 concerning appropriate accommodation services reads as follows:
The new youth employment Outreach program announced in the first ACT budget will target young unemployed people.
This has disappeared from the current Government's response. There is no mention of why it disappeared. The Government simply put up the screen on this issue. However, I am happy to tell the Assembly what occurred. When Mr Collaery was briefed on this response he found that his colleague Mr Duby had axed the program without consulting him. Apparently Mr Collaery was quite upset when he found out but he took no action to have the program reinstated. This man, who professes to have the interests of homeless youth at heart, showed what a fraud he actually is. Don't rock the boat, Mr Collaery, you would not want to lose the perks of office for the sake of the poor and homeless. Furthermore, Mr Acting Speaker, I find it particularly ironic that the Labor Government's response to Burdekin's recommendations are now served up by a government intent on dismantling the education scheme in the ACT or, in the words of the Chief Minister, "lowering the standards of education".
This cutting simply for the sake of cutting is best seen in the recommendations of the Priorities Review Board. These recommendations do not consider the needs of the disadvantaged, the poor and the homeless. It is fine for Mr Collaery to talk about the specialised Youth Affairs Unit charged with the coordination of Government services to help alleviate youth problems, to talk about the establishment of adolescents' day care units and a 24-hour crisis service for those with severe problems, but in the current climate of cut, cut, cut, is any action going to occur?
Mr Acting Speaker, also disturbing are Mr Collaery's bizarre attacks on Mr Burdekin. He attacked Brian Burdekin for asking the ACT Government to give an account of their actions. He said, amongst other things, that, "Brian Burdekin was part of a caravan flying round Australia telling us of youths that died years ago". Mr Burdekin's response was swift and accurate. He said that Mr Collaery's comments were ill-considered and inaccurate and half-baked. He rightly pointed out that because of lack of action by State and Territory governments homeless youths were still dying. Obviously Mr Collaery's conscience is being pricked by Mr Burdekin asking him to account for his action. He seems to believe that the Burdekin inquiry
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