Page 3064 - Week 08 - Thursday, 25 June 2009
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community organisations to their contractual requirements but be considerate of the less than expected funding arrangements if they are not able to meet all requirements. I do hope that the debate to come about efficiencies is a fair one and does not impact on the most vulnerable in the ACT, for public services are an important tool to address social inequities.
Significant funding is allocated in the budget to the development of e-health capacity and infrastructure. This is a major development for both the ACT and Australia and will facilitate greater opportunities to provide consumers with more informed service providers. I expect we as an Assembly will consider the e-health proposals under much scrutiny in coming years, as both privacy and accuracy of records are key concerns for consumers and health professionals.
The Greens support the home and community care program funding and are pleased that a triennial plan has been signed off by the ACT and Australian governments. My hope for the future is that funding under this program, most especially for growth funds and indexation, can be paid to non-government organisations in a timely manner. One would expect the funds to be provided in the first quarter of the financial year and not the last. I would urge the minister to consider paying out a proportion of the ACT component of indexation if the time frame cannot be met.
Just briefly in relation to mental health, the Greens were pleased that two of the budget items were from those which were allocated in the Greens-Labor parliamentary agreement; in particular, mental health training for emergency workers and teachers. That is very important as that is often where presentations of mental health problems can first occur and if they can be identified then it does benefit consumers in that case. The second is the fifty-fifty allocation of mental health growth money between ACT government services and community services.
I know that the government has been very critical of the number of questions we put on notice, but with relation to mental health we were able to get some very useful data. We held a mental health consultation last week and the consumers, carers and service providers present at that consultation were very pleased to see that information because, compared to the national mental health report of 2007, the data we were able to get was much more up to date and it has been very useful for us and for them.
This data also showed that we have some way to go to reach the goal of 12 per cent in the health budget for mental health. I just reiterate that that 12 per cent reflects the burden of disease in the community associated with mental illness. It is a goal that has been reached in New Zealand and that is being worked towards in Victoria. One way they have been able to achieve that is by taking a more cross-government approach to mental health. If we took a more cross-government approach to mental health funding, I think we would see ourselves much closer towards that 12 per cent goal.
Similarly, with the 30 per cent goal of mental health funding to the community sector, I would like to see more movement towards that. The Greens will be releasing a policy paper very soon which will look at how we can work with consumers and carers to reach that goal, because we do believe it is achievable.
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