Page 536 - Week 02 - Tuesday, 8 March 2011
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kinship carers. To this day, there is no non-government support service for grandparent and kinship carers. There has been a failed procurement process that has gone on. Part of that procurement process has resulted in, from memory—and I will stand corrected—I think $20,000 going to Marymead to provide a drop-in service and a monthly meeting service for grandparent and kinship carers. I do not denigrate what was done through Marymead for grandparent and kinship carers, but it is not the not-for-profit support agency.
In addition to that, the minister and the department agreed to hive off $60,000 a year for a grandparent and kinship support officer in the department. Again, that is money that is being taken away from the grandparent and kinship carers non-government service that this government has failed to provide.
Let us just think about what the grandparent and kinship carers said about the sort of service that they and their relatives received at the hands of the Department of Disability, Housing and Community Services. We remember in June last year, when Ms Marion Le and Ms Jean Smyth came to the estimates hearing, they complained that, although the ACT Labor Party had promised $800,000 over four years for a dedicated non-government advocacy service, none of that money had come to light and that they had been lobbying to receive that money.
We have to remember that, in that hearing, those women who were supporting their relatives, their grandchildren and other relatives, accused the government of institutionalised abuse of their children. This is not a promise that this government has kept.
Members interjecting—
MR ASSISTANT SPEAKER: (Mr Hargreaves): Stop the clock. Just a second, please, Mrs Dunne. Ms Hunter, Mr Stanhope, I have abused those opposite for interrupting you.
Mr Hanson interjecting—
MR ASSISTANT SPEAKER Mr Hanson, you are on holiday if you keep that up. Mrs Dunne, you have the floor.
MRS DUNNE: Thank you, Mr Assistant Speaker. The Chief Minister should listen to this, because on the list of things that he rattled off today was the claim that he had met that commitment, and that commitment was for an $800,000 four-year dedicated non-government advocacy system for grandparent and kinship carers. That is effectively $200,000 a year, no matter which way you cut it. In the first year, $20,000 was allocated. In the second year, a similar amount was allocated and some money was hived off for other purposes. But there is still no dedicated system of support through a non-government advocacy group for grandparent and kindred carers.
This is something that this government dropped the ball on. They made a commitment that they have not kept. This matter, as well as being raised with me and with Mr Seselja, was raised with Ms Hunter. Ms Hunter has done nothing to keep her
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