Page 6088 - Week 14 - Thursday, 9 December 2010
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I am aware that the Youth Coalition and Families ACT have been in discussion with each other and are considering a way forward beyond June and July of next year.
MR SPEAKER: Ms Hunter, a supplementary question?
MS HUNTER: Thank you, Mr Speaker. Minister, are you committed to a stand-alone peak body of Families ACT and a stand-alone peak body to represent the needs of young people in the ACT?
MS BURCH: The sector is undergoing some reform and there certainly is a discussion around how youth services and family services are delivered. It is my understanding that Families ACT and the Youth Coalition have been provided with opportunities to discuss their way forward. That is my understanding. I am quite happy to have individual conversations with Families ACT and the Youth Coalition on that. The CEO of the Youth Coalition has always been one to approach my office with concerns. There has not been a direct approach to my office on any such concern.
Would I stand here and give a guarantee one way or another? I think it is for the sectors themselves to determine and have that discussion. Once they have that, I am quite willing to support and consider their deliberations.
MS BRESNAN: A supplementary question, Mr Speaker?
MR SPEAKER: Yes, Ms Bresnan.
MS BRESNAN: Minister, can you make a commitment to promptly reviewing the decision to use a single select tender for peak bodies funded under the new service delivery framework?
MS BURCH: There are some services under the youth and family support programs that were provided with a single select tender. These were organisations that deliver quite unique services, and it was thought in the best interest to continue on with that. They include, for example, scouts, girl guides and the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award. I am quite happy to stand by those decisions, to think that they were quite particular, unique organisations that warranted ongoing support.
Ms Bresnan: On a point of order, Mr Speaker, my question was actually about a commitment to the decision around a select tender for peak bodies, not the other services under the framework.
MR SPEAKER: Minister Burch, would you like to add further comment?
MS BURCH: Well, it is not my understanding that there is a determination other than on those that have already gone under a select process for funding. The purchasing framework is still out there. It is my understanding that Families ACT and the Youth Coalition are still in active discussion amongst themselves and across the sector on the best way that the peaks represent their memberships.
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