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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1998 Week 6 Hansard (1 September) . . Page.. 1720 ..

MS TUCKER (continuing):

If the people of Australia were aware of what was going on, maybe they would say, "This is not good enough. If we have to pay more taxes to solve this situation, we will, because we believe in a fair go in Australia". The people who are the most vulnerable in our society should not be the ones copping it worst, but that is what is happening.

It is often the mothers who must care for people who have a disability or a mental illness. It is often the quite elderly people who are caring for adult people with a disability or a mental illness who are not able to care for themselves. We have been closing institutions across Australia. Our own facilities are closing. People are being encouraged to move out of Watson Hostel and Hennessy House. Support is supposedly being provided in the community, but I am hearing from people in our community that the face-to-face support is not adequate. It is not increasing; it is in fact decreasing. I recall asking in the Estimates Committee what the caseload of caseworkers in the mental health sector was. It was very high.

We cannot just say, as Mr Moore just did, that we will do it when we can and that we have put more money in. I think it is unacceptable. I think it is offensive. Mr Wood described personal experiences of the suffering of families, individuals and carers. It just makes you feel sick. It makes you feel that as a society we are failing in a very serious way.

I want to raise also the question of the professional people who are being paid as providers of care in this same sector. I have already raised it today. I have looked at the salaries that are paid for this work. I have seen the work first-hand and I do not think it is a fair wage. I think it is an insulting wage for the work they do. It is also interesting how in this place we have been told several times that you get monkeys if you pay peanuts. Does that mean we think monkeys are fine to work in the community sector? Do we think it does not matter who cares for our disabled and who cares for our mentally ill? I do not necessarily support that argument and I believe people do work for reasons other than money, but if the Government's argument is to be followed, the argument they always put up for their hugely excessive executive salaries, then I think, to be consistent, they should be paying very high salaries to people in the community sector if they value that work and if they value the concept that we as a society believe those vulnerable people need support.

It is also about prevention and intervention. It is about knowing that if you do support people who get into strife with mental illness or substance abuse, and if you have highly qualified people, you have good people and you have services available, you will save money in the long run. Here again we have the old economic argument that if we do not have effective and accessible support for people in our community who are struggling with these particular sorts of illnesses we will pay in the long run. I know that is a hard one for government, because it is always hard to get out of a timeframe of a few years. It is so critical that we make that shift in terms of the environment as well.

I have to be honest and say that I have not totally read "Setting the Agenda", so the Minister can clarify himself. He would be delighted to stand up.

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