Page 3074 - Week 08 - Thursday, 25 June 2009
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provided a summary of the impact of the budget on women and girls of the ACT. When this was discussed in the estimates hearings, the minister advised that she felt that the statement had been of limited use in the past and that the government’s work on phasing in gender analysis and gender disaggregated data should provide more comprehensive advice on the budget’s impact on women.
I had hoped the estimates committee would call for a whole-of-government approach to men’s issues and data analysis and the disaggregated gender data to especially provide consistency across agencies, and I am disappointed that this was not raised. I expect that the Minister for Women will monitor the rollout of gender analysis across the ACT government.
While there is some debate about whether or not funding is delivered via Disability ACT, the issue that has come to my attention over recent months and concerned me the most is the inequity in transparency for those services provided by non-government organisations in comparison to those provided by the government. It seems a bit of a double standard that Disability ACT conducts five audits of NGOs a year to ensure they meet appropriate standards, and yet Disability ACT itself is subject to only one independent audit a year. So who is holding Disability ACT to account if an independent audit finds that not all standards are being met? Is this a role of the commissioner for people with a disability, and what obligations are there on Disability ACT to make this information public?
Through the estimates hearings we were advised that, under a new service funding agreement with the commonwealth, Disability ACT and NGOs will be subject to prerequisite accreditation, with the framework to be determined by each state and territory. The minister did not make it clear during the estimates hearings that community providers would receive assistance from the government to go through this accreditation process, and the example was used of providing $245,000 to the community housing organisations when they went through accreditation. I expect to see this funding in next year’s budget.
Discussion was had in estimates about the level of unmet need within Disability ACT, as this was something recently reported on by the Auditor-General. It is thought that we are about $8 million to $9 million short of where we need to be, and I have to say that we have had some strong representations on this issue.
There are a number of constituents who have contacted us in regard to disability services in recent months. They have also raised the issue of the Gallop report and whether the government have addressed all the recommendations and whether real change has been achieved. The minister did commit to providing the estimates committees with an update on the recommendations of the Gallop report, and we look forward to receiving this.
I appreciate the update we received from the minister via a question on notice in regard to the disability workforce strategy. It can be seen that considerable work has been done to try to attract workers to the sector. There are some very good goals set out in the strategy, and we look forward to more progress being achieved in the future.
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