Page 2778 - Week 09 - Thursday, 26 August 1993
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the radio: "It is terrible. We pay too high a level of rates because money is being wasted on welfare". It is a very cheap position for opposition members to say, "Spend more, spend more; tax less, tax less". Mrs Carnell, you are the past expert at this particular philosophy of public finance. It is an extraordinarily apt one for an opposition but an extraordinarily irresponsible one for a government.
Mr Humphries: Did you ever use it when you were in opposition, Mr Connolly?
MR CONNOLLY: No, it is an approach we tended to avoid because we knew when we were in opposition that we would be back in government. We take a long-term and responsible view. The rates were reviewed in 1991. We are currently conducting a comparable study of rates in all Australian jurisdictions to see whether our base rates and special rates remain appropriate. Preliminary inquiries show that those rates are still generally comparable, but we are pursuing that further.
I should point out that we have also taken steps to organise the foster parents in the ACT. In the past there was no body representing foster parents; it was rather difficult for such a body to be organised because privacy limitations dictate that the list of foster parents is not publicised. What we did as a government was contact all the foster parents and facilitate a meeting. We have now, out of that, got up a foster parents organisation, which is operating as a lobbying base for foster parents, and that is appropriate.
Mrs Carnell: That is why we are having this discussion - because they lobbied us.
MR CONNOLLY: Well, no. I think the lobbying here is coming from Barnardo's.
Mr De Domenico: No, from the parents themselves.
MR CONNOLLY: And the Barnardo's parents. The other groups do not say, "Barnardo's should be paid more than us". It is only Barnardo's who say, "We should have a special rate of payment". So you need to be a little bit careful here.
Mr Cornwell: We do not either. We are saying that they should all be paid a decent weekly rate.
MR CONNOLLY: As to the so-called decent weekly rate that Mr Cornwell speaks of, it is double what other States and we pay. Again, interstate comparison is relevant, Mr Cornwell. It is relevant to ask what other States do. If you criticise this Government for being Dickensian, it is a legitimate defence for us to ask how we compare with other States, and we compare well.
That estimate you based your $240 on is the Institute of Family Studies estimate of what parents actually spend on their children, regardless of whether that is excessive or inadequate by objective standards. That funding includes issues like mortgage payments and household capital repayments, so it is not really an adequate basis for foster care payments. It is what families are spending to support themselves. It is not really an adequate basis for what is the additional cost of taking on an additional child in foster care.
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