Page 2927 - Week 13 - Thursday, 23 November 1989
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MR BERRY: One of the difficulties is getting through to you over there. I repeat: it is not proposed that the money would be going to the Government. It is a donation and - - -
Mr Kaine: Could you give us the details of how it is going to be dealt with?
Mrs Grassby: We do not know. They're going to make their minds up as to who they give it to.
Mr Kaine: Well, you just said it wasn't going to come to the Government; you must know.
MR SPEAKER: Order! Mr Kaine, please address your comments through the Chair.
Mr Kaine: My apologies, Mr Speaker.
MR BERRY: Mr Speaker, I know the money will not be coming to the Government. It is a donation to selected charities, I suggest. I have about as much information as you do, I think, and mine all comes from the media.
Welfare Services
MR HUMPHRIES: Mr Speaker, my question is addressed to the Minister for Community Services and Health. I refer to the crisis meeting convened by the Minister's colleague Mrs Kelly on Monday night to discuss the failure of the ACT welfare system and, in particular, the failure of this system to protect young people. I ask: is the Minister aware that the kinds of complaints against the ACT welfare bureaucracy, which were raised at the meeting, are not new and have been raised many times in the past few years? Can the Minister tell us how long he has been aware of the problem in welfare services? Can the Minister confirm that welfare workers have long been complaining about the overallocation of welfare resources on administration rather than the actual delivery of welfare services?
A member: Like the nurses.
MR HUMPHRIES: Like the nurses, yes.
MR BERRY: Thank you for the question, Mr Humphries. Mr Speaker, it has been stated in this morning's press, by the youth advocate, that there is no gap between the two agencies. Of course, in the delivery of these sorts of services, differences of opinion arise from time to time and, of course - - -
Mr Humphries: "Conflict", it is called.
Ms Follett: Do you want to answer the question as well?
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