Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .
Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 7 Hansard (24 June) . . Page.. 2304 ..
Mrs Burke
: How many?MRS DUNNE
: 19.4 actually, and there are a few more consultants around who seem to be doing public relations as well.Mr Smyth
: 21.4.MRS DUNNE
: Any advance on 21.4?Mr Smyth
: Plus four consultants.MRS DUNNE
: There is a good quarter of a gross of people already in the organisation doing this sort of work. The question is: if we want to have an enhanced whole of government approach to communications, and we already have the resources, is it beyond the wit of the people in the department to have some coordination? I think, as Ms Dundas said, this is a waste of money-money that could be better spent on services.I would like to turn to services and the community sector. Members have spoken about the appalling and shoddy treatment meted out to Volunteering ACT. Before I talk about Volunteering ACT, I want to talk about the initiatives. Constantly, during the estimates process, we asked about the initiatives-what was the thinking behind this initiative or that initiative? "Well, we thought it would be a good way to raise money,"or, "We thought it would be a good thing to do."We asked, "Have you worked out how this will be implemented?"We were told no. Constantly the answer was: "Well, we thought of a figure and we put it in the budget and it's a sort of guesstimate about how much it will cost. We have no idea how this program or this initiative will be implemented."This has been a single feature of the budget. All the way through there are initiatives that have not been thought out.
Volunteering ACT looks like an initiative, but it is not the sort of initiative that you usually except because, as Mr Stefaniak said, somebody who is untutored in reading a budget paper would come along and say, "Gee, an initiative. $50,000 to Volunteering ACT-that doesn't look bad, that looks pretty generous."That is, until you understand what is going on and discover that in the past the ACT government has contributed $100,000 per year to Volunteering ACT. What we have here, dressed up as an initiative, is effectively a 50 per cent cut to an organisation which, through its aegis and through its good work, provides millions and millions of dollars, tens of millions of dollars, of benefit to this community.
I think a third of all people in the ACT volunteer and organisations like Volunteering ACT keep this supply ticking over. They ensure that organisations that we might volunteer for know how to manage volunteers and look after and deal with volunteer problems. This Labor Party has just duded countless organisations-from sporting groups, such as our kids callisthenics classes that we might support, and scouts to a whole lot of really important undertakings such as Meals on Wheels and a whole range of environment programs and things that keep this town and this country ticking over-to the tune of $50,000. Fifty per cent of the money that the ACT government gives and 20 per cent of all their income every year has just been taken away from them.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .