Page 2089 - Week 07 - Thursday, 4 June 2015
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management program to manage heroin overdoses. This is a life-saving, groundbreaking response to drug use overdose, and I applaud the health minister for continuing the funding of this program. The budget also delivers welcome funding for the women’s and children’s hospital, neonatal services and the QEII post-childbirth support service.
When it comes to education, the Greens look forward to the ongoing implementation of needs-based funding in ACT education, a top line item in our parliamentary agreement and one on which we share a policy position with the Labor Party. It is an issue pertinent in the current environment. While I appreciate that the commonwealth has changed its focus, shall we say, to supporting states and territories to provide quality education and has moved to more block funding, I think the budget papers paint a stark reality—I can count 17 different national partnership payments that have just ceased or have been reprofiled by the commonwealth.
We are still dealing with the fallout of one of the most obvious broken promises from the Abbott government that said there was a unity ticket on Gonski. This means the ACT will have to go increasingly by itself in developing needs-based funding and with less money than was promised. It is going to be a tough few years for education funding, and the Greens will be watching this space closely to ensure that we are striving to end the educational achievement gap based on socioeconomic status and that the ACT at least develops a fair, transparent and equitable funding system.
I note that the additional $3 million over two years in this budget for extra learning support for students with a disability is very welcome. The Greens welcome investment in a Tuggeranong campus of CIT—something I think the Tuggeranong community feel is somewhat overdue. It will make a significant difference to the most southerly parts of Canberra. This budget provides welcome capital infrastructure upgrades, but the Greens also look forward to more recurrent funding in coming years to support students in other ways as well.
When it comes to community services, it is great to see the continued increased funding of $39 million for the new out-of-home care strategy, a step up for our kids. This is a pleasing result from many years of sustained advocacy by the Greens and some of my former colleagues. The care and protection system has long needed the attention and resourcing it is now receiving, and I commend the Community Services Directorate and the minister on the bold new direction it is taking. This will be a challenge for the sector, but I am encouraged by the engagement with stakeholders and the drive to look after our children in new and better ways and hopefully reduce the numbers of children entering the system in the first place.
I will also be looking forward to the continued implementation of the better service program, an initiative I was involved in as housing minister and continue to support. I welcome the increased funding for the front-line services for victims of domestic violence. There is no doubt governments around the country must and should have this issue at the top of their minds at the moment. The additional money that has been made available goes to three agencies that do important work to support those who have suffered or are in a domestic violence situation—the Canberra Rape Crisis Centre, the Domestic Violence Crisis Centre and the Canberra Men’s Centre.
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