Page 331 - Week 02 - Tuesday, 1 March 1994
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Also under that community safety strategy, individuals and community groups are able to seek funding for particular community safety programs. Those funding proposals will be assessed by the committee, which will be submitting its recommendations to the Government for decision. I think the Government's commitment to community safety and to a role of partnership with the community is very much to the fore, and it is one that, I think, ought to be supported by all parties in the Assembly.
If I could turn to the particular role of the police and citizens youth clubs, which I believe do some very fine work indeed, I find it regrettable that there has been an attempt by the Opposition to pre-empt the Government's budget. I certainly will not be addressing that or speculating on the budget in any way at all. However, I would like to comment that, in addition to the funding which the police and citizens youth clubs receive through the AFP budget, they receive substantial assistance from other areas of government. One of those areas is within the youth services grants program, under which the police and citizens youth clubs received $46,200 this year and last year. So there has been no diminution of that funding whatsoever. That money, I believe, is used for salaries of assistant administrators for the police and citizens youth clubs, and clearly it must have been of some assistance to them.
The Office of Sport and Recreation have also provided funds to the police and citizens youth clubs through the capital grants program. There was a grant of some $30,000 in 1994 for improvements to the Turner club. That grant was provided after very careful consideration of the police and citizens youth clubs' application and the demand on funds. I believe that a further $60,000 was granted by the Commonwealth Government Department of Environment, Sport and Territories for that same project. So there has been a considerable amount of funding directed to the police and citizens youth clubs, in addition to their funding through the Australian Federal Police budget.
I believe that the Government has demonstrated a considerable level of support for this initiative in the community, and the police and citizens youth clubs can be confident that their work is valued. That is certainly the case. I know that there has been recent work done on priorities for funding in my youth area, looking at where gaps might exist - gaps of unmet need in the community, particularly for young people. Some of the gaps that I know have been identified relate in particular to the needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people and to the needs of non-English-speaking young people in our community. As the Government, we keep those sorts of funding programs under review and we need, in the course of that review, to respond to needs in the community, and those needs change over time. In terms of our support for the police and citizens youth clubs, I think we have been entirely responsible in our levels of funding and, given that they receive funding from more than one source, the kinds of fears Mr Humphries is raising must be put down as a bit of politicking.
However, I am not about to pre-empt the budget, as I said at the time. Mr Kaine is on the record as saying that he would cut the police budget. Mr Kaine has said that you cannot quarantine the police budget, and I agree with him. I think it is an entirely reasonable proposition for any government to say, "Within the funds available, we must look at our priorities". That is what we will be doing with the Federal Police. That is what we will be doing with every area of administration, and I believe that that is the responsible approach.
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