Page 2106 - Week 06 - Thursday, 7 May 2009
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four years for transition support for people moving from hospital to the community is an example of this. We will maintain pressure on the government to continue to build on these over the following budgets.
The Greens welcome the new early intervention programs for children with disabilities and increased funding for care packages for those people with high needs. The establishment of the companion card to enable people with disabilities who require an attendant to go to various events and venues without incurring the cost of a second ticket for their attendance is also very welcome. However, we also share the concerns of ACTCOSS that the needs of these services may well increase over the four years of budget allocation due to the increasing age and fragility of many carers of people with disabilities.
Increased provision for the aged care and rehabilitation service of $4.2 million over the next four years is of benefit to the aged in our community who require health care. Funding for the construction and operation of the Tuggeranong over-55 club—that is, $1.5 million in capital works and $24,000 in recurrent costs, and $62,000 over four years for the seniors grant program—will encourage aged participation in the Canberra community. However, the amounts allocated each year to the wellbeing of our aged are very limited. Given the proportion of our population that are aged and the desire to encourage increased health and social participation by our aged citizens, the Greens would hope to see a greater expansion of these services in the future.
With regard to the provision for our most vulnerable children, the government has provided $11 million over four years for the growth in costs of out-of-home care. Given the low level of carer subsidies in the ACT and the expanding numbers of children and young people in out-of-home care, this is an important commitment.
On initial examination, it appeared there was an increase in foster carer subsidies which currently meet less than 50 per cent of the costs of raising a child. However, it is very disappointing to see that the detailed accountability indicators in budget paper 4 show that the department is aiming to reduce the daily cost per child in out-of-home care from the $164 target in 2008-09 to a $136 target in 2009-10. Given that the weekly subsidy payable to carers is equal to only one day’s costs, there must be room for the department to reduce costs in other areas.
The Greens recognise the importance of investing in people and are deeply concerned that there will be an increased demand on community organisations as a result of the global economic crisis. There are a number of good initiatives in the budget with regard to the free legal service for homeless and aged people, community mental health service funding and building housing partnerships to break the cycle of homelessness. But there will need to be increased funding and assistance as unemployment rises and the full impact of the financial crisis is felt.
Also in this context there is no evidence in this budget that funding will be allocated to multicultural services indicated in the 2009-12 multicultural strategy. Multicultural Youth Services is one service that will experience decreases in funding in an essential program. Multicultural Youth Services has successfully supported many young people through providing vital services to refugees and new arrivals and has received awards that acknowledge the importance and quality of the services they provide.
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