Page 3134 - Week 07 - Thursday, 30 June 2011
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subjected to business case principles. While services should be effective and efficient, disability support is not about proving a business case. Continued advocacy will help change our cultural mindset around disability support and hopefully sometime soon we will not see the parents and carers who do save government such a huge amount of money suffer the way they have.
The Greens have also been seeking therapy services in schools for some time now. It is pleasing to see a trial of therapy assistants in schools. I will continue to advocate for increased school-based services as I am convinced of their benefit. A trial is a positive first step, but I know of too many good initiatives that are cut simply because they were a trial. I do hope this continues to have the government’s support.
I am sure Minister Burch will see the benefits of not only therapy assistants in schools and disability units but also the use of school-based therapy—something that the Shaddock review made a number of recommendations about. In-school therapy services have been operating successfully in other jurisdictions for many years. I will continue to support these essential services being located within schools.
Turning to the Office of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs, I acknowledge that there is increased funding. This funding will oversee the grants process for the elder camps and leadership training. The Greens want to see, however, a minimum spent on administration and as much funding as possible utilised on programs that have been developed in consultation with local Aboriginal people. The Greens are in regular contact with committed Aboriginal leaders and understand that program development is not always in line with community needs or concerns.
Moving to childcare, Canberra families are certainly feeling the squeeze with childcare availability and affordability. Any increase is welcome news and we congratulate the government on committing to increase childcare places by up to 800, through land release and centre construction. Minister Burch says that this will in turn improve affordability, and the Greens certainly hope this is the case but there is little evidence at this stage to suggest it. Childcare fees in Canberra remain the highest in the country and we will need to see a reasonable reduction before there can be any realistic claim about affordable childcare here in Canberra.
The ACT is fortunate that over 80 per cent of childcare centres are community based. The Greens are well aware of the dedication of the staff that manage and run these centres and the high quality service that they provide. Currently many of these centres have waiting lists and the vast majority are unable to provide care across five working days. New places will relieve pressure, and this is welcome. It is premature by the minister to claim that costs will be reduced, but there are a range of complex factors around all of this and much of them are actually outside the ACT government’s control. They are part of the national childcare funding policy.
Turning to the national quality framework, we are however concerned that there are some centres that may face difficulty in meeting compliance under this framework. I am yet to be assured by Minister Burch that centres will not close. The Greens support a wide range of childcare options, including smaller centres. I do not think that larger centres need to be the only option or that they must be the way of the future. In saying
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