Page 3141 - Week 07 - Thursday, 30 June 2011
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The situation is no better than it was. It is no better than it was before Vardon. Huge amounts of money seem to be being thrown at a black hole and we just do not see any real on-the-ground benefit. We are full on rhetoric and short on practical examples of where that money has been well spent. The morale is pretty awful. Between us, I think we represent 98 per cent of the kids. It is just really difficult.
We are here also to support the kinship carers, but as the Foster Care Association our main complaint is that in 2009 we had $25,000 of our extremely meagre funding taken off us to provide a position in the department that simply has not worked for us.
This minister asked today whether the Canberra Liberals could look organisations in the face because members of the Canberra Liberals had received some community grants. I ask the same question. Can Minister Burch look foster carers in the eye after they have taken $25,000 out of, I think, their $40,000 grant and had that money transferred back into the department to provide a service that they neither want nor need? The complaints of Ms Mannion and Ms Le go on for many pages, and their concerns are enormous.
I took some time after the formal hearing and sat down and had a cup of tea with Ms Mannion and Ms Le. I ended up dealing with two extraordinarily powerful women, both of whom were absolutely reduced and diminished by dealing year in year out with the department. One of those women was in tears at the end of the time, saying, “I feel defeated by working with this department or having to work against this department.” The fact that people who are prepared to give up their time, their liberty, their disposable income to provide a service for this community, for the children of our community, and are treated so badly that they are reduced to tears is unacceptable. (Second speaking period taken.) I do note that in the estimates report there was a suggestion from Mr Hanson and Mr Smyth that perhaps the minister and the officials should take particular pains to re-read the evidence of Ms Mannion and Ms Le and then provide to the Assembly a justification for why they have been treated like that and a path forward for improved treatment.
Moving on to the Flynn primary school, the local community groups in Flynn are so incensed with Minister Burch’s failure to consult and work in a cooperative manner with the local community in developing the former Flynn primary school that they are now again in court. It is true there have been meetings, but Minister Burch has done her own thing anyway. The Gumnut Place Child Care Centre went through a long period of anxiety and uncertainty when the government told them that they would be evicted from their much-loved premises. And really it boils down to the fact that if the truth were really out, Gumnut does not want to move from where they are in Evatt.
It is true that there were meetings, but in the end Minister Burch only wished them well in their future endeavours to find new accommodation. Minister Burch did things her own way. As it turns out now, Minister Burch is spending $4 million to upgrade part of the former Flynn primary school to accommodate Gumnut and Alkira childcare centres coming together in amalgamation. This solution was only found after the Canberra Liberals spoke out on behalf of Gumnut. We hope that the outcome will be good for both Gumnut and Alkira.
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