Page 4929 - Week 15 - Thursday, 15 December 2005
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Government—expenditure review
MR QUINLAN: Mr Speaker, I received a question from Mr Mulcahy on 15 November in relation to the cost of the functional review. There will be a cost but I have to inform the house that the cost will be the blood and sweat of Treasury. The cost of the functional review will be absorbed within Treasury and, of course, within all the departments that are cooperating. Current staff are absorbing the work. The not inconsiderable workload is being absorbed within current resources.
Suicide prevention
MR CORBELL: Mr Speaker, I am sure we can get a count on the kilojoule value of Hansard. Yesterday in question time Mr Seselja asked me a question in relation to the suicide prevention report. He asked me why, in his view, the exploratory work to be undertaken before the final report was released was not done. The answer to Mr Seselja’s question is: exploratory work in relation to identifying successful suicide prevention programs and possible service gaps was undertaken in developing the suicide prevention plan. This work identified the positive outcomes achieved by the OzHelp program, a very good program set up by that very good community organisation, the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union.
All actions within the draft suicide prevention plan, including this one, have been developed through an extensive consultation process and have undergone numerous changes throughout that process. The actions, as included in the final draft of the plan, reflect the consensus position of key stakeholders and other community representatives, as agreed during the consultation process. Action 1.1.3 of the plan to “explore options for building on life skills programs that focus on resilience building, coping strategies and help-seeking behaviours for apprentices and trainees throughout the ACT” acknowledges the success of that program and the need to continue to build on that success.
The emphasis within the action has always been on finding ways to improve services for men and increasing men’s utilisation of existing and future services to improve their mental health and reduce the risk of suicide amongst men, especially young men. The broader action also allows for consideration not only of opportunities to expand these current services but also of other options and activities that might build on and strengthen the current program. An action simply to expand the existing services would have limited the opportunity to explore other options that might strengthen this model of support.
Committee reports—government responses
Papers and statement by minister
MR STANHOPE (Ginninderra—Chief Minister, Attorney-General, Minister for the Environment and Minister for Arts, Heritage and Indigenous Affairs): For the information of members, I present the following papers:
Education, Training and Young People—Standing Committee—Report 1—Report on 2003 to 2004 Annual and Financial Reports—Department of Education and
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