Page 933 - Week 04 - Thursday, 3 May 2007
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MR STANHOPE: I am glad to hear that. I misunderstood your question, Mr Pratt. Thank you for the clarification. Let me assure you that the security cameras are solely and entirely for the purpose of ensuring security. That is the case with those at the interchange.
Mr Pratt, I will have to take the second part of your question on notice. I regret, as the stand-in minister today, that I am not across the issues you have raised. I have heard your question. I will respond to it. I trust you will allow me to take some advice and briefing on the issue you have raised. I will respond to it.
Mr Pratt: What about the report?
MR STANHOPE: I will have to take advice on that, too. It is something that I am not particularly familiar with. I will take advice and respond to you fully.
Disability services agreement
MR GENTLEMAN: My question is to the Deputy Chief Minister and Minister for Disability and Community Services. Minister, the existing Commonwealth State Territory Disability Agreement expires on 30 June this year. Could you update the Assembly on the progress in negotiating a new agreement?
MS GALLAGHER: I thank Mr Gentleman for the question and for the opportunity to update the community on negotiations for the next Commonwealth State Territory Disability Agreement. Mr Gentleman is right in the sense that the current CSTDA 3 expires on 30 June this year. Unfortunately, from the negotiations we have had thus far, it appears that we will not have a replacement agreement in time to replace the CSTDA 3 when it expires half-way through this year.
This is a critical agreement for the ACT, particularly for members of our community and their families who receive assistance under the CSTDA. It is an opportunity, we believe, for the ACT to lobby very strongly for increased resourcing from the commonwealth, not just putting our hand out to the commonwealth for more money, but seeking to address some of the inequity that exists in the funding agreement with the commonwealth, specifically in relation to the ACT.
At the moment we receive 17c in every dollar from the commonwealth, so it is about an 83 per cent funded system from the ACT government and 17 per cent from the commonwealth. This is, next to Victoria, the lowest arrangement in the country. The national average is around 26c in the dollar. So we are already being short-changed about $4.5 million a year.
Mrs Burke: Have you satisfied the expenditure, though? Is that the problem?
MS GALLAGHER: It is quite a complex area in terms of trying to work out responsibilities. Certainly from my point of view, the ACT government has invested, I think, an additional 38 per cent across the current agreement to what was required under CSTDA 3 just to meet some of the needs in our community. Part of that is the result of the inequity that we receive from the commonwealth compared to every
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