Page 1326 - Week 04 - Tuesday, 27 March 2012
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Surely this reform process was about better, more relevant services for children, young people and their families, yet the voices of young people have been silent in the whole process.
There are other examples of the poor practice in the recent reforms in the youth, housing and homelessness sector. In questions I asked the Assembly just last week Minister Burch stated she had not been made aware of any specific concerns that were raised by specialist homelessness workers. The Greens have, and they relate mostly to the new models of group shared supported accommodation and also the new emergency accommodation network, formerly known as crisis refuges.
This is despite repeated and unsuccessful calls for an evidence base to show that placing vulnerable young people in shared three-bedroom supported transitional accommodation was appropriate and many workers clearly telling the consultations that this was a fraught move—that they really should not go for this model.
Despite serious concerns being raised about the safety of staff and young people, high-risk untried and totally different models of crisis refuges have been developed in as yet to be identified new cluster houses in the suburbs. This move has sadly seen the closure of the only young women’s specific refuge in Canberra after 20 years of successfully supporting so many young women.
Minister Burch indicated that if the Greens had received any concerns, they should be passed on to her office. I was a bit surprised. In the first instance, I know for a fact that many of these concerns have been raised in multiple submissions and forums during the consultation phase. Perhaps it would be a good idea if the minister asked Housing ACT to supply those submissions to her, because it appears in many of those submissions.
I would have hoped that she would perhaps stop for a moment to ask herself why the Greens are being approached instead of Housing ACT or why these matters have not been taken up with her office. I think it is because there is a feeling in the sector that they have tried and tried and it has been like bashing their head against a brick wall.
The bottom line is that an inherent power imbalance exists between the government and the community sector. The community sector’s reliance on government funds puts organisations in a very difficult position when they want to raise concerns about government proposals or actions. Put bluntly, some of the recent messages to the youth sector, in particular the youth housing sector, have made services feel disempowered and in some cases justifiably afraid of raising legitimate concerns about service provision.
Front-line workers and program managers are not comfortable in being honest with CSD contract managers. This is a very sad state of affairs that needs to be rectified. (Time expired.)
MS BURCH (Brindabella—Minister for Community Services, Minister for the Arts, Minister for Multicultural Affairs, Minister for Ageing, Minister for Women and Minister for Gaming and Racing) (3.21): I thank Ms Hunter for bringing this motion
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