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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 12 Hansard (19 November) . . Page.. 3693 ..

MS TUCKER (continuing):

In relation to the areas of intellectual disability and mental health, my experience is that when I raise a problem it is dismissed at the political level or I get a briefing from senior officers who ask me what to do; while at the departmental level things are done hurriedly to fix the particular case I have raised, without there being any real attempt to address the substantive, structural, systemic problems. Very little information sharing goes on, and morale within the sector is extremely low. I acknowledge, of course, that in most recent times there are plans and reviews of disability services and mental health that may address these issues.

During the Estimates Committee hearings, Mr Berry asked Mrs Carnell questions about staff costs and staff arrangements in group houses for people with a disability. I ask you to consider whether or not Mrs Carnell's answers were misleading.

Mr Moore: Gilding the lily.

MS TUCKER: They may be, as Mr Moore says, gilding the lily. That is what Mr Moore says.

Mrs Carnell: Did you raise it in the Estimates Committee?

Mr De Domenico: Is it in the report? Why did you not raise it in the Estimates Committee?

MS TUCKER: The response is that it is not in the report.

Mrs Carnell: No; did you raise it in the committee?

Mr De Domenico: And, if not, why not?

MS TUCKER: That is a typical response, a typical political response. I am asking you to address the issues behind this question. I am asking members of this place to consider whether or not these answers are misleading; whether they are just gilding the lily, as Mr Moore says; or whether they are just a mistake because there is such a heavy load. Other members can make that decision.

Basically, Mrs Carnell stated that staff received a 75 per cent loading on sleepovers. That is not the whole story. Maybe it is not misleading; it is just not the whole story. Again, she failed to mention that, because of the sleepover, the hourly rate of pay following is less than 100 per cent of the normal hourly rate. Then Mrs Carnell claimed that if Disability Services moved to using one of the professional commercial nursing services - "professional commercial", we heard it many times - they would save half a million dollars immediately. This is misleading on two counts, I suggest. Firstly, I would like to see those figures substantiated; so, I will ask for substantiation.

Mrs Carnell: Have you asked for them?

MS TUCKER: I am asking now. I ask you to substantiate them.

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