Page 1401 - Week 05 - Wednesday, 10 April 2013
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commend him for the work that he has done with regard to this issue over the last few years. It is a great policy. The autism school is a great policy. It would have been implemented if we had won government, and it is disappointing today that the government is not going to follow through on it.
The response from the minister, the sort of sneering that took up about 10 minutes of her 15-minute speech, which is all politically motivated smear and attack on the Canberra Liberals, really exposes the lack of concern that she has for this as an issue and what motivates her, which seems to be cheap politics and attack rather than actually taking this issue on its substance. Some of the criticisms levelled at this policy are inaccurate. Concerns over the cost are disputed. There is a different view in terms of the establishment of the cost of this model.
But ultimately, politics is about priorities. It is about working out where is your priority to spend money. I welcome members of the community here today who have come to listen to the speech and I think if we were to ask them or ask their families, ask their friends, ask many members of the community where they think that money should be invested by government, they will give you an answer.
The question is: should it be about an autism school to provide services to some of the more disadvantaged in our community, provide the essential early intervention services we need, or a look at some of the government priorities? This is the government that squandered about $5 million on the office block that they had to build, did a bunch of planning and then shelved it. That would have funded this and some. This is a government that have already spent $1 million on light rail for naught. We have seen nothing on it. And this government have said that, despite the $600 million-plus price tag, light rail would be built at whatever cost.
This is the Chief Minister saying she must have eight more MLAs. I do not know what the cost of that is. Is it $8 million or $16 million in terms of capital, and then what is it? What is the full cost of that?
Go out into the community and ask whether they want a bunch of planning on an office building that was never built, whether they want to see light rail built at any cost, whether they want to see eight more MLAs—because they are the government’s priorities. I am not making this stuff up; they are the government’s priorities, and any number of other things. You can delve into public art or any number of other misguided priorities. Or do they want something that delivers for the most vulnerable in our community—things like an autism school? I am sure if we were to ask members of the community—and they have been advised not to answer by Madam Speaker; I do not want to get them into trouble—and to ask the vast bulk of people in the community, they would tell us what they want, and that is better services for people with autism.
Research shows that about one child in every 100 children has autism and currently there are almost 230,000 Australians diagnosed. A recent study conducted by Synergies Economic Consulting found that autism costs the Australian community up to $10 billion a year. It also found that if a child accesses two years of best practice early intervention, up to $2 million can be saved over the lifetime of that child. Early
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