Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .

Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 2 Hansard (27 February) . . Page.. 562 ..

MR HUMPHRIES (continuing):

Material arriving from interstate has to comply with that system. How we check whether what arrives under a manifest is what is actually in the material that is received - in other words, if it is described as Delan in the manifest, that it is actually Delan - I do not know. I can take that on notice and find out for Ms Horodny. If she wanted an answer to that question, she should have put in on notice. The system we have applied here in that respect is no less rigorous than that anywhere in Australia. Indeed, I maintain that our standards are probably higher than those in most places in Australia. Again, before those sorts of issues were raised, before the suggestion of harm to the broader community from these so-called problems was raised, they should have been properly checked with authorities who would be responsible enough to spot basic errors

MR OSBORNE: My question is to the Minister for Family Services, Mr Stefaniak. He was given short notice of this question. Minister, does the family services budget include funds that can be allocated over the counter to meet the urgent short-term needs of a family for items that would immediately keep a family together in a crisis, such as food vouchers and emergency transport or child care? If so, Mr Stefaniak, how much is set aside for this purpose, how does the system of allocation operate and how much is left for the second half of this financial year? While you are answering that question, Minister, I am quite prepared for you to include a short speech on the achievements of your former colleague Mr De Domenico, which other members of your party seem to have forgotten to do.

MR SPEAKER: The last part of the question is out of order.

MR STEFANIAK: The answer to the first part of the question is a simple yes, Mr Osborne. I am advised that there is a total of $25,000 funding for emergency services, of which to date this year $8,814 has been spent. The entitlements are cash to a maximum of $20 and food vouchers to a maximum of $30. Emergency contingencies are assessed on a case-by-case basis. How do you get it? To access these government funds, people need first to access non-government agencies. Those agencies are St Vincent de Paul, the Salvation Army and the Smith Family - well-known agencies that do an excellent job in assisting the needy in our community. These organisations are funded by the Government under the community services grants program. Only last week I agreed to increase the funding for those three organisations by $4,000. That was on top of their base funding. These funds are used for people in dire straits needing emergency assistance. I think that gives you a fairly comprehensive answer to your question - except for the question about Mr De Domenico, but there will be speeches about that soon.

MR OSBORNE: I ask a supplementary question. Minister, from your answer it seems there is about $16,000 unspent this financial year. If that is the case, are you aware that families are often being turned away from being able to claim these types of emergency payments? I have also been informed by some families that staff are actually having to pay for some emergency services because there are not funds that they are able to access. Are you aware of that?

Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .