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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1999 Week 1 Hansard (16 February) . . Page.. 164 ..

MR HARGREAVES (continuing):

He advised that if money was not put into youth services the community would pay dearly for it in later years. As many here would know, it costs about $60,000 a year to house ACT prisoners in New South Wales gaols. Mr Temporary Deputy Speaker, this figure is for each prisoner. What a cost! Possibly, this could have been reduced if we had ploughed more funds into youth services 20 years ago.

I am concerned that not only do we perhaps pay lip-service to the provision of services to young people through our youth centres but there seems to be a misdirection of attention. The Minister for Health wants to have safe injecting places. I understand that his view is that it is constructive harm minimisation, and I know that he is committed to his youth suicide prevention strategy, but much of this is merely talk.

The Government has reduced the certainty of continuation of youth centres at Woden and Civic under the guise of the purchaser-provider model, insisting on performance measures and allowing only single-year funding. I have been trying to have a youth centre at Conder for the young people of the Lanyon Valley for a year now. I have received many utterings of support and empathy and promise, but not enough has emerged. This Government has procrastinated and has not been proactive.

It appears that the Government is disjointed over its commitment to the youth of today in Canberra. How else can you explain the tense situation in our youth centres? The Government ought to guarantee three-year funding for the centres and involve themselves in the creation of meaningful and relevant measures of success with appropriate sanctions for non-performance, but give them a chance. The evolution of the youth centre in the Lanyon Valley is testimony to the bureaucratic procrastination and government ineptitude affecting these services.

A year ago a community meeting was convened because parents could see problems emerging. The consensus was that a youth centre with appropriate services was needed now before the number of kids at a vulnerable age emerged in the very near future. The project was driven by members of the community, Mr and Mrs Maloney of Conder. The committee which emerged from the community meeting badgered Mr Stefaniak for a centre and Mr Smyth for a site. To his credit, in a sense, Mr Stefaniak had his department become involved and what has emerged is a part-time weekend service with limited hours in a community centre a distance away from the shopping centre where the kids congregate. The Minister has allocated rental and equipment funds, for which the community is most grateful. But, Minister, it is not working well because the centre siting and the hours of operation do not suit the kids for whom it is designed. The committee sought the help of a range of bureaucrats and, as I speak, has been referred to the very same officer who was involved at the beginning. A complete circle, Minister. Is it any wonder that the community is feeling discouraged?

As for the fight for a site, the community approached the Minister for Urban Services in his capacity as Minister for PALM, identifying a site and seeking his allocation. He referred it, I believe, to the Assistant Treasurer who referred it back to him. Meanwhile, nothing! Why do you think the community has lost faith in you? Because, Ministers, you have just not delivered. Instead, you have promised to do something, but you have just given them the runaround.

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