Page 595 - Week 02 - Thursday, 21 February 1991
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As a first priority the ministry has employed two Aboriginal home-school liaison officers and three Aboriginal education assistants. The home-school liaison officers will liaise between the staffs of a number of schools and their Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students, families and other community members. They will also assist in the establishment of homework centres and encourage parent participation in schooling. The Aboriginal education assistants will assist teachers with individuals or small groups of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students as well as assist the principal and teachers with developing appropriate programs in their schools.
The Ministry for Health, Education and the Arts is also investigating means by which teachers in ACT schools can best be sensitised to the nature of Aboriginal culture and to appropriate management procedures with Aboriginal children.
Jindalee Nursing Home
MR BERRY: My question is directed to Mr Humphries. Noting that budget cuts at Jindalee have resulted in cuts in services and programs to residents, including some bed closures, what will the Minister do to remedy the problems for residents and their families caused by the removal of therapy aides from Jindalee?
MR HUMPHRIES: Mr Speaker, again I take the assertion Mr Berry makes about cuts with a grain of salt. I have come to the stage, these days, where I do not accept anything Mr Berry says prima facie, unless I can go away and check the facts for myself. The absence of any services in any part of the health service at the present time is due only to a temporary shortage of staff. If there are shortages of such staff, then obviously those shortages do result in some decline in the service available.
It is not the Government's fault that people are not available to fill particular roles. There have always been shortages of particular categories of staff in the ACT. Mr Berry faced the same experience, particularly in respect of certain medical professionals, and I think any government will face those problems from time to time. There is no question, however, that the Government has ceased to fund services or is discouraging people from volunteering for services if they happen to have the qualifications to apply for them, or is in some way deliberately depriving residents of Jindalee, or any other part of the public health system, of services that we wish to provide them with.
The aims of the ACT public health system have not changed. There is no Government policy to change them; there is no Government policy to prevent - - -
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