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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1998 Week 6 Hansard (1 September) . . Page.. 1688 ..

MR STANHOPE (continuing):

so to speak, of essential service delivery within our community. The community sector is very much a part of the social and political economy of the ACT. Under the purchaser-provider model, an increasing range of essential services are being provided to members of the community by the community sector. That is something we continue to underapplaud and under-recognise. I mention again the irony of this budget being discussed at this time.

The Government dismissed the Estimates Committee recommendation in relation to the need to ensure that the community sector is not further damaged. I guess in that context it is relevant that I raise the particularly harsh treatment meted out to the Civic and the Woden youth centres. They only got one-year contracts at a time when they had every expectation, along with a whole range of other similarly minded organisations, that they would receive a standard three-year contract. One really must ask seriously why it is that this Government at the last minute chose to punish those organisations for perhaps nothing more than vocalising very serious concerns that they had about this Government's attitude to the SACS award and to the delivery of the essential services which those organisations provide. It goes back to the point I made before about the processes employed by this Government, about - - -

Mr Berry: Settling scores.

MR STANHOPE: I struggle for words to describe it. I struggle to understand why it is that this Government chose to punish the Woden youth service and the Civic youth service in the way that - - -

Ms Carnell: You have already debated it.

MR STANHOPE: You may have given us an explanation, Chief Minister, but it certainly did not strike a chord with me. I have not yet accepted anything you have had to say about what I regard as a particularly vindictive move by you to restrict the Woden youth service and the Civic youth service to one-year contracts. There is absolutely no patent or explainable reason for doing that, and I have not accepted any of your explanations. I raise this matter in the context of this debate and the context of the Estimates Committee's reference to the SACS award and the Government's response - - -

Ms Carnell: It is not in this appropriation line.

MR STANHOPE: But all the SACS awards most certainly are.

MR SPEAKER: I would remind members that they are supposed to be discussing the Chief Minister's Department. There are other line items where you will have the opportunity to speak.

MR STANHOPE: I am discussing the Estimates Committee report. I will be discussing the Government's response to that report, too. I will conclude my remarks on that point. I have made the point I wish to make. These are very worrying aspects of this Government's attitude to the community sector.

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