Page 1069 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 20 March 1991
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flow of complaints to their offices, as we all know, because of their failure to provide services in the Territory.
Never do the people who rely on this Government get the solutions. The buck-passing will continue, and we will be faced with continuing complaints from the community and crises of confidence from the community about this Government's performance. It is bad. It is on the nose. The community is baffled by the meanderings of Ministers, and, of course, that is what it is intended to do - to baffle the community, to have the community feel that something is being done when it truly is not. You only have to listen to the complaints that come to one's office from time to time to confirm in your mind that the Government is just not up to it.
Government policies dictate what services are provided in the private sector, and some of them also add to the confusion and lack of confidence in the community. But the real problem is the failure of the Government to provide true participation in its decision making process. It is important that parents and carers have a true role to play in the preparation of policy and the delivery of services in the community. They do not have that. Bodgie consultation is the order of the day, where the Government very often jumps up and says, "We have consulted with the community", but they have made it a dirty word because the community has no power in the development of policies because of this bodgie approach which has been taken to consultation.
For most of the community suffering difficulties in this area, consultation has now become meaningless because of this Government's lack of honesty on the issue of participation by the community. I think one only has to consider the example of the parents of residents at Bruce Hostel to come to the realisation that there is a real problem. These people were asked to participate with management in what was described as a detailed consultation process, only to find out that the Government's agenda was set. And, of course, when they learned of this it was at the last moment and there was no possibility of change, or of change being achieved through negotiation. Of course, what the community members felt then was that they had been conned into participating in some sort of sham consultation, and they were supposed to walk away with a warm inner glow and place all of their faith in the relevant Ministers of this Government. They have joined the ranks of the many who now have no confidence in this Government and that is, of course, being developed by the Government's performances in health, education and other areas. What you find at the end of all of this, Mr Speaker, is a group of angry people who are baffled and confused, but at the end of the day none are satisfied with the results.
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