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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 7 Hansard (26 June) . . Page.. 2242 ..

MS REILLY (continuing):

Moving on to the more general community services - and I raised this in my speech in reply to the ACT budget in May - I suppose that this - - -

MR TEMPORARY DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! The member's time has expired.

MS REILLY: I seek an extension of time.

MR TEMPORARY DEPUTY SPEAKER: Could I just guide you by suggesting that you can speak again for another 10 minutes. You might wish to do that.

Mr Berry: She might want to have the extension as well as the 10 minutes.

MR TEMPORARY DEPUTY SPEAKER: Mr Berry, I am not asking for your interjection; I am giving guidance to the member.

Mr Berry: I was giving her some advice.

MR TEMPORARY DEPUTY SPEAKER: She may or may not wish to exercise that option.

MS REILLY: I seek an extension, Mr Temporary Deputy Speaker. (Extension of time granted) One of the concerns I have about this budget - and it ties in with some of my previous remarks - is that in the area of community services this budget smacks of adhockery; there is a little of this and a little of that. It is hard to get an integrated picture of what is going to happen with community services in the ACT. Looking at some of the budget allocations for community services, one gets the impression that these decisions were not based on any understanding of demand in the community or any indication of knowing what the level of demand in the community is. It has been claimed at various times that there have been no cuts in community services. If you look at the budget allocations, you probably will not find cuts in most cases or will find small cuts in various areas.

But the other thing to note is that there have been no increases either. Having no increases fails to recognise changing demand and fails to recognise increasing costs, because decisions about the funding levels for community services are being made with no figures on what is in demand in the community for community services. What has happened is that the supply side has been left static. But in most instances we do not have any acknowledgment of change of demand, because there has been no demand analysis done in the ACT. A number of community services can tell you - and because there has been no money for a demand analysis it is anecdotal evidence - that there is an increasing use of community services in the ACT. It is not surprising when you look at a community that has just lost 7,000 jobs.

Mr Berry: Plus Mrs Carnell's 1,600.

MS REILLY: That makes it 8,600 jobs lost. These job losses do not affect just one individual. Those individuals often have family members; they have extended families in the ACT. Obviously, there are a number of issues that can arise when a family

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