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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1998 Week 11 Hansard (9 December) . . Page.. 3382 ..

MR MOORE (continuing):

and then it sets out principles to be advanced through that funding. Of course, Mr Speaker, there is other legislation pertinent to these issues, such as the Guardianship and Management of Property Act, the Discrimination Act, the Commonwealth Disability Discrimination Act, the Community and Health Complaints Act, the Community Advocate Act and the Mental Health (Treatment and Care) Act.

Another factor impinging on this area is the Commonwealth-State Disability Agreement. The Commonwealth-State Disability Agreement, which includes the provision of supplementary funding of some $500,000 over four years to address the needs of people with disabilities who require support to engage in meaningful daytime activities, to access vocational services and to develop living skills to attain personal and career goals, is being renegotiated. A tender was recently advertised for that very purpose. It was the issue that I mentioned as being the longer-term solution in the specific case that Mr Wood drew our attention to. Tenders for that will close on Friday week, 18 December.

The Disability Services Subcommittee of the national Standing Committee on Community Services and Income Security Administrators has commissioned consultants to undertake a study of unmet need right across Australia. The consultant's report is expected to be submitted to Ministers in the new year. The report is likely to generate an informed discussion of this important topic. Mr Wood, I expect that, when we have the consultant's report on unmet need, we will actually stand in quite good stead against the rest of Australia. But that is not good enough. It will show that we have a clear unmet need in the ACT.

That is why I will keep coming back to this issue of the sale of ACTEW. Until somebody can show me a better way of raising the revenue to deal with these sorts of issues then I will come back to that. I know that, towards the end of last year and through the election campaign, Ms Tucker supported my approach by saying, "We should increase taxation", but other members of this Assembly have not supported that approach, and therefore we have to look for an alternative way.

While that is going on, Mr Speaker, because money is not the only answer, the department is developing a disability services strategic plan, which seeks to strengthen the good parts of the existing service system; improve those parts that are not working well; introduce change where it is required; ensure that services are what our customers actually want, as well as carers, of course; make the best use of limited resources; and make a positive difference. Although I have argued that it is appropriate to sell ACTEW in order to help us provide resources, there is always going to be a limited amount of resources, and within those resources priority decisions are going to have to be made.

Mr Speaker, in speaking to this issue, Mr Wood was speaking about a range of disability services, which do not normally include mental health. But I think it is important to include mental health issues in disability services. I think most members would agree that there have been significant moves in reform of mental health services over the last couple of years, and these have been particularly effective. It does not mean to say that people can rest on their laurels. They are not doing that. Nevertheless, I think it is worth

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