Page 2302 - Week 06 - Friday, 27 June 2008
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the government’s 2020 plan. The room was full of people eager to have a say in the future of this land, which has the potential to provide value to their community. Certainly Weston Creek people are taking seriously the ACT government’s assurance that it did not shut the school to sell the land, although questions remain about the future of the oval nearby, which was not part of the consultation.
It was also a real pity, I thought, that this consultation about the school grounds was happening in isolation from the future of the school buildings. It would really make a lot of sense, if we are going to do something on the school grounds, to know what was happening inside the school so that the school grounds could actually extend that, rather than be happening as isolated procedures apart from each other. It just does not make sense.
Save our Schools has released figures which show that over 70 per cent of green space of eight closed school sites is being considered for sale by the ACT government. The implications for the proposed sell-off should be canvassed at public meetings on the future of closed school sites. The extent of the proposed sell-off will come as a shock to many residents. A fundamental task of the public meetings on the future of closed school sites should be to inform communities of the extent of the proposed sell-off and to give them the opportunity to discuss and assess the implications for their suburb.
I am really pleased to see that the portable long service leave scheme, this long-awaited initiative, is finally on the government’s funding agenda. It has been talked about since 2004, when I came into this place, and it is a very important step in ensuring the viability of the community sector. But there is still an awful long way to go to address staffing and infrastructure needs, despite the “strengthening the community” provision.
The community sector provides many services for the government more cheaply than it could provide them itself, including but not limited to mental health, drug and alcohol and disability services. And community sector agencies are often the first point of contact for the most socially excluded and disempowered residents of our city.
The ACT government asks our community organisations to do highly intensive and complex work with people who are often in crisis and it asks them to do this work on very narrow budgets. They are generally funded for specific programs only and, if the client does not fit into this designated hole, then either the organisation does what it can to make them fit, at their own expense, or it simply cannot assist. (Second speaking period taken.)
In a recent hearing of the inquiry into the early intervention and care of vulnerable infants in the ACT, collaboration was repeatedly discussed as an important factor when working with families at risk. Collaboration should happen between agencies and with government and should include open dialogue about how money is spent and how much is actually needed to provide the services to ensure that the sector can continue with the vital work that they do.
Government reliance on community organisations does not seem to be recognised in funding. The estimates report recognised:
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