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- 19 October 2005
Budget Estimates and Related Papers
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Page: 18889
Financial Year 2005-06
Debate resumed from 22 June 2005.
Mr GRAHAM WEST (Campbelltown—Parliamentary Secretary) [10.21 a.m.]: The State budget has delivered many benefits for New South Wales. The Government is working hard to improve rail services and has introduced projects that will serve the community well, including new carriages, turn-back facilities and improvements to rail lines. On public health, the Government is improving public hospitals. In my electorate of Campbelltown, massive improvements have continued to Campbelltown Hospital, including the expansion of the mental health facilities with a $3 million project to improve acute services for people with a mental illness who need to stay in care for between three and six months. As they are very vulnerable members of the community it is appropriate that the Government recognises that need in Campbelltown and across the State, and is working to deliver the needed facilities.
Concerning Roads, it is expected that the M7 will open before Christmas. It will be a fantastic boon to greater Western Sydney, and Sydney in general, in delivering economic improvements along its route and to outlying areas. Campbelltown will benefit from improved access directly to the north and the west, and to the rest of the Sydney area. Emergency services continue to be supported, and Campbelltown's Rural Fire Service has received a grant in excess of $1.2 million. That grant will ensure that local firefighters have the resources, personal protection equipment and other necessary equipment to protect the community this summer. Potentially, we are facing an extremely high fire risk this summer, which could have resulted in further losses without this funding. The Police budget has allocated further improvements to local policing. Campbelltown has received extra probationary constables together with additional necessary resources.
The Government delivered a responsible budget. Since coming to office, Premier Iemma amended that budget, especially in relation to vendor duty and land tax. Those amendments have benefited many families and investors. The Labor Government has delivered responsible budgets and will continue to do so long into the future. However, it would be greatly assisted in that task if New South Wales could get its fair share of GST revenue. New South Wales provides about $13 billion in GST revenue, and receives only $10 billion. We do not mind supporting some smaller States and Territories, such as South Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territory, but we do take exception to large chunks of our money going to Queensland to prop-up its petrol prices, or to Western Australia, which receives an excessive boon for mineral resources.
The Commonwealth Grants Commission—an organisation that makes bizarre determinations—continues to insist that New South Wales delivers too many public services to its people. It says that we have too many bus stops, too many rail lines and too many other facilities. The people of New South Wales deserve those facilities. If we were to get more revenue from the Federal Government we could provide even more. I am sure that, contrary to what the Commonwealth Grants Commission—a body that has been attacked by numerous bodies, including Federal bodies—believes, New South Wales would spend that extra funding wisely to deliver further improvements.
The New South Wales economy has always been the engine room of Australia, and will continue to be so under the stewardship of the Labor Government. The 2005-06 budget continues the tradition of delivering for New South Wales, and future budgets will continue to focus on the things that matter most: improving transport and public health, providing a safe community in which to live, and ensuring that people have access to services such as eduction. The Government has provided support for innovative important projects. Locally, a small grant has allowed a project to encourage appreciation of the good works of the many public schools in our area, including the Kids in Biz Program undertaken with the local chamber of commerce.
The grant has allowed artwork by children from local primary schools to be professionally framed and, with the co-operation of local businesses, hung for people to see. The children's newsletters list the location of the artworks. The companies have encouraged an appreciation of the fine work done in New South Wales schools. I am sure that many honourable members along with members of the community appreciate the Schools Spectacular. Schools excel not only in reading and writing and other academic pursuits but also in many cultural and personal development areas.
Local schools have also benefited from improvements in maintenance funding. A number of schools have received important facilities they have needed. One project in the budget of real importance was the improvement to Airds High School. It is getting a hall. I was pleased to see that money included in the budget. Plans have been lodged and the school will have a hall very soon. I thank Mr Speaker, who initiated that project in his time as Minister for Education. He and I spent an enjoyable day at Airds High School speaking to Chris Presland, the principal, who continues to do good things at the school.
One of the things the school does is run a boy's program, which is targeted toward students who may have difficulty engaging at school and may need a bit of mentoring. It gets them involved with other students and teachers and encourages participation from the fathers, and involves such things as craft. I saw an exhibition of billycarts and other craftwork they had engaged in with their dads or with other students and teachers. At the end of the year the students who participate are assessed. Mick Adams received an award for his teaching, particularly in relation to this project. Airds High School received recognition from the State and the Commonwealth for this program. The school does a number of things to reward kids at the end of the year, such as canyoning, which is well appreciated. The kids conduct themselves responsibly throughout that process and it is a great way of showing them that one needs to engage as a community; and it teaches them to be responsible young citizens in the community. The program deserves support.
The former Minister for Juvenile Justice will be pleased that locally we are seeing improvements to Reiby Juvenile Justice Centre. The Minister took an active interest in the centre, and the construction works were started during her time as Minister. Reiby also has an aunties program, in which a number of Aboriginal elders, working with Centrecare and Father Kevin Andrew, go into the juvenile justice facility and work with a number of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal offenders who come from west of the Great Dividing Range and do not have social links and contacts with home. They work on craft and listen and talk. The former Minister was in the process of providing further assistance to the aunties program, and I am sure the new Minister the Justice, the Hon. Tony Kelly, will ensure that the aunties get that support.
Mr Chris Hartcher: You only have nine minutes 52 seconds, but keep going.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! The honourable member for Gosford will resume his seat and maintain the dignity of the House.
Mr GRAHAM WEST: I have toured the Reiby juvenile justice facility. Good work is carried on there by the staff, but one thing that struck me was that far from it being a holiday or an easy place it is a confronting and difficult place to be in. Diversionary programs such as juvenile conferencing, which help to keep people out of these facilities, are important. Obviously incarcerating young people is a last resort. Sometimes there is no option but if we can get young people back on track, sometimes through community offender programs or with programs that are running out west in the Aboriginal communities, while learning respect and mutual appreciation for each other, that is money well spent.
I have also toured the Long Bay psychiatric facility. That was probably one of my most confronting experiences. It is a facility in need of improvement and I am pleased to see that the New South Wales Government is to improve the hospital at Long Bay. It will embark on a new facility to improve mental health options. I was there in company with John Marsden visiting one of his clients and I witnessed a visit by a young boy to his father, who was incarcerated in that mental health wing. Improvements to the hospital will benefit not only the inmates but also the families who visit and the young people who see these conditions. If we can combine that with the improvements the Iemma Government is delivering in mental health, many of them initiated when the current Premier was Minister for Health, we will see improved opportunities for these people post-release, and that will reduce the recidivism rate, which is something I am sure all honourable members would support.
The honourable member for Wollongong interjects about carers. That is important. Carers make an important and valuable contribution not only to the people they directly care for but also to the wider community. I was pleased to organise a forum in Parliament that a number of honourable members attended. Carers New South Wales is always looking for more support and is always appreciative of the support it gets. That forum highlighted many of the important issues confronting carers. One that was startling for me was that many carers are young children and teenagers, who care for a mother or father or another relative. That has an enormous effect on them. It affects their schooling. Many will miss school.
It affects their social relationships. They are denied the opportunity for social relationships at a time when people are developing, at a time when they should be developing social skills. Many of them are locked in their houses, unable to go out except for periods of respite or when the Home and Community Care [HACC] worker comes along and gives them the opportunity to take a break. But even such breaks tend to be along the lines of ducking out to the shop to get a few basic necessities rather than what young people would normally do, such as going to the movies or to the skate park and having a good time. Any improvements we can make there will be gratefully received.
Locally the Department of Disability, Housing and Aged Care is looking at facilities for youth. We have a number of excellent facilities providing respite, but we can always do with more. Sunshine Cottage in Narellan Vale provides respite. I have had the privilege of touring that centre. It has dedicated staff and is extremely important to those who use it. Respite is such an important facility. It is a tragedy when respite beds become blocked because someone simply cannot cope. These situations arise. Anything we can do through HACC or respite that prevents these bed blocks benefits many families. One of the other things we need to be cognizant of when dealing with carers is that carers themselves can suffer many mental health effects simply from dealing with the full-time load of caring. There are difficulties for carers because of privacy concerns. A number of doctors will not provide information to carers and they suffer from a lack of knowledge.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! There is too much audible conversation. The House will come to order. I include the honourable member for Murray-Darling in that direction.
Mr GRAHAM WEST: Carers might not be aware of the correct medication or the times at which it should be given. We need to look at ways of improving co-operation and consultation with families, especially those that have children who are mentally ill or have a dual diagnosis. My electorate and the electorate of the honourable member for Camden have a number of special schools. Recently I attended a fundraiser for Mater Dei School, which is located in the region. It is working to raise funds for a playground for disabled students. Beverley Park School is engaged in a similar exercise to raise funds. Due to a number of unforseen circumstances it is currently repairing its playground. Both playgrounds, when completed, will provide students who may be wheelchair bound with opportunities that I as a parent take for granted: the opportunity to put a child on a swing and have a bit of fun. These playgrounds are important community facilities.
The Bethany Early Intervention Program, which is run by Mater Dei, caters for children before they go to school. That service assists parents who have students with disabilities by providing improved opportunities for integration classes or mainstream schooling. I am pleased to inform the House that the New South Wales Government provided further assistance by way of a $5,000 grant. I congratulate Dr Jenny McDonald, the chair of the foundation, on her work and I congratulate all those who work at Mater Dei School. Jenny McDonald has an active interest in community health. We must ensure that community health is well supported and that the health care centre closed by WorkCover for a number of reasons is reopened. [Extension of time agreed to.]
I hope that important community health centre in Campbelltown, which provides many important services, is reopened by the health department sooner rather than later. The former Premier, former health Minister and I saw the work being done at that centre to reduce glue ear in Aboriginal children. Aboriginal communities have higher levels of glue ear than other communities. A special testing program was implemented to identify glue ear, which has been causing educational problems. Students with glue ear cannot hear properly. If they cannot hear properly often they cannot learn properly. A student in a class of 20 might sit back and not be noticed until it is too late—until he or she has already slipped behind a few reading levels or has not learned the basic skills.
That is just one of the many functions carried out by community health. Community health also works with children with disabilities and advises their parents. It works with people who may have undergone operations. A program was run in Koshigaya Park and people who had undergone heart operations were encouraged by community health to join a walking group, which afforded them social interaction and provided them with other health benefits. I wish to refer to some other big-ticket items across the State that will benefit Campbelltown, especially in the areas of education and training.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! There is too much audible conversation in the Chamber.
Mr GRAHAM WEST: The $583 million class size reduction program to help employ an additional 1,500 teachers in schools in New South Wales and build new classrooms will benefit many schools in Campbelltown. A number of Campbelltown schools that were in the pilot program have already benefited enormously from it. An amount of $538 million will be provided over four years for literacy and numeracy. Programs such as Reading Recovery and Count Me In Too provide essential support in the early years. The Aboriginal community in Campbelltown is well regarded and contributes enormously to our cultural life. An additional $53 million over four years has been allocated to improve education for Aboriginal students, such as individualised learning plans, teacher incentive packages, curriculum revision, and extended student assessment and teaching.
There is also a major capital works program in the Campbelltown area. One of the areas that will benefit from that major capital works program is Campbelltown TAFE. Its hospitality facilities will be upgraded, an outdoor barbecue area will be provided, and the dining area will be improved. Honourable members might like to know that Campbelltown TAFE runs a restaurant where students prepare food as part of their program. I am sure those students would be happy to serve all honourable members. That restaurant is also available for functions. The honourable member for Camden, the new member for Macquarie Fields and I have attended many functions at that restaurant and we were impressed by the calibre of students, the quality of the food, the hospitality and the level of service provided.
An amount of $4.6 million has been allocated for apprenticeship programs across the State. TradeStart provides travel support and new funding for group training. The honourable member for Macquarie Fields knows that Campbelltown council engaged in a program that many other councils could pick up. It is committed to employing a number of apprentices and cadets every year and helping them through TAFE. We are benefiting locally from that. Money has also been allocated for teacher professional development—an important aspect in providing quality outcomes for students and investing in teacher professional development.
An amount of $146 million over four years has been allocated for teacher professional development and an additional $5 million will be allocated in 2005-06 for the New South Wales Institute of Teachers, which was established in 2004 to ensure quality teaching. There is also a budgetary allocation of $60 million over four years to correct student behaviour and ensure there is discipline in schools. Eight new behavioural schools and seven tutorial centres will be built by 2007. Campbelltown saw the rollout of Lomandra School, one of the first behavioural schools, and Mr Speaker was instrumental in obtaining that grant.
I was pleased to open that school, which works closely with students and aims not just to give them an education but also to teach them the skills they require to return to mainstream education. That is challenging and difficult work but the teachers who are engaged in it are committed. I congratulate them on their commitment and on their efforts to improve students' behaviour and discipline. Improving their behaviour and discipline will also afford opportunities to other students in mainstream classrooms and ensure they are not disrupted. Those behavioural and discipline problems relate to many of the community health problems I was talking about earlier. There could also be other underlying health issues. Those schools work closely with Macarthur community health facilities to ensure that students and families receive the services they need.
The schools also work closely with the Department of Community Services to ensure that families have access to the help they need. Across the State $56.8 million is being provided over four years to support students with special needs, and 660 new teachers aides will be employed over three years. Teachers' aides have a valuable role in the classroom, allowing teachers to engage in core learning practices and one-on-one focus for students who need it. Teachers' aides are a valued resource and work hard. I acknowledge, especially at Beverley Park, the important work of teachers' aides as they extend themselves to provide support to students with disabilities.
Safety and security are always important issues at schools. To ensure that our schools are as safe as they can be the Government will provide a further $55 million for government schools over the next four years to increase safety and security with such things as school fencing, security alarms and security patrols. Recently at Campbelltown North I went to see the office of the Minister for Education and Training. Ike Ellis from the department has visited the school to achieve a strategy to protect the school. It adjoins a busy road and also a number of drainage retention basins that in times of rain could be dangerous. We also need to provide students with improved technology. I note that $942 million is being provided over four years for technology.
I recently had the opportunity to visit the Catholic Education Office in Wollongong, went through a number of Catholic schools and saw some of the innovative things it is doing with technology. Its approach is less around hardware and more around outcomes. It focuses on what it wants to achieve and then works backwards to see what it needs to provide to get that outcome. Its program—I think it is using "myinternet"—is about providing student resources. The New South Wales Government is looking at extending opportunities into government schools and this is one model that we should examine. It has been adopted around Australia by a number of dioceses. Teachers also should have the opportunity for education, because education is becoming more and more technologically advanced. Technology is simply a tool and not something to be afraid of. Students should be provided with the ability to use those facilities. I commend the budget to the House.
Mr ALAN ASHTON (East Hills) [10.51 a.m.]: I thank members of Parliament for turning up this morning for my speech on the budget. I am rather pleased at the attention. Even young children are behind me to hear this.
Debate adjourned on motion by Mr Alan Ashton.
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