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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 14 Hansard (9 December) . . Page.. 4707 ..

MS REILLY (continuing):

Numerous meetings were held and some newsletters were put out, but nothing has happened. Two years after it started, they relaunched it last week. We are still working in the dark. Because of a lack of data collection we are unable to understand the full extent of the issues in this area. This causes a lot of problems for the organisations, many of which are committed to ensuring the best possible services.

The inquiry revealed that many people within the ACT, whether they are working in the community services area or not, are concerned and are committed to ensuring that we have good, strong community services that react to the needs of young people and children, but the Government has failed to respond to these concerns. Instead, they have generally cut the money available to these services. They have failed to provide leadership and information to assist the development of services. They have failed Family Services staff in a whole range of ways. They have failed to provide sufficient support for them to allow them to do their job well. They have failed to provide sufficient resources to them so that they can do their job well.

In February I raised this matter with Mr Stefaniak. The CPSU wrote to him about the failure to provide basic administrative assistance to people in Family Services, even things such as pens and pencils, so that they can do their job well. We do not need to go into the other issues of assistance to families, such as respite in child care and access to child-care services and family holiday programs. I think it is unfortunate that these staff, who are committed to their jobs, have so much trouble in working well because the Government does not consider that they are important and does not provide sufficient resources to assist them.

One of the concerns that came up throughout the whole of the proceedings and in submissions from a number of people was about the turnover of staff in this area. It is understandable that staff find this job extremely difficult when they are not supported in ways that assist them to do their job well. Career structure and training in the community sector have not been addressed in any meaningful way. The Government was very reluctant to become involved in the development of an award in this area and had to be dragged kicking and screaming to the Industrial Relations Commission.

If we believe that young people and children are an important part of our community and if we see them as part of working towards the future, then we must ensure that the people who are working with them and assisting them when things go wrong have the necessary skills and expertise and that they are recognised through various means, particularly salary and sufficient resources to do their jobs well. The reluctance to recognise them through awards and the reluctance to ensure that there is sufficient training and support are a damning indictment of this Government. We need to support these people, whether they work in government agencies or non-government agencies, and show leadership through that support.

Another element that ran through this inquiry and has run through a number of the other inquiries is the importance of early intervention and preventive measures in dealing with young people and children. Government policy is characterised by reactive policies. There is quite a lot of concern about what happens in Quamby and what services are available in Quamby, but Quamby is the end point. If the children are in Quamby, it shows failure along the way.

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