Regional and Remote Area Family Services

Mr GERARD MARTIN: I address my question without notice to the Minister for Community Services. Can the Minister update the House on the Iemma Government's initiatives to deliver better services to families in regional New South Wales?

Mr KEVIN GREENE: I thank the member for Bathurst for his interest in remote and regional New South Wales, and particularly his concerns for his electorate. In country communities hundreds of workers in agencies such as the Department of Community Services and Health and Juvenile Justice dedicate their lives to helping families, helping kids and providing services that underpin communities. Those jobs are not only hard to perform, they are often hard to fill. Governments around Australia are finding it harder and harder to fill jobs in the most remote and challenging communities.

As internal migration continues to see more and more families moving to cities or regional centres, smaller towns continue to shrink. Coupled with their geographic and social isolation, many communities are now also under pressure from the drought. It is a complex situation and one the Government has repeatedly tried to address, with mixed success. Current incentives, which vary between agencies, are still not reaping the results we would like to see. We need to do more to ensure that families in our most remote and vulnerable communities get the help they need. There is no quick fix to this issue. We need long-term sustainable and innovative solutions delivered in partnership with all levels of government.

The SPEAKER: Order! I call the member for Terrigal to order for the second time.

Mr KEVIN GREENE: The Iemma Government has directed human services agencies to go back to the drawing board to look at innovative ways of delivering services to families in our more remote communities.

The SPEAKER: Order! I call the member for Upper Hunter to order.

Mr KEVIN GREENE: The Premier has established a dedicated task force on human service delivery in rural and remote New South Wales made up of senior representatives from key agencies, including the Department of Community Services, Housing, Education, Health, Aboriginal Affairs, the Department of Ageing, Disability and Home Care, and Police. This task force will focus on the key barriers to recruiting and retaining skilled staff, such as incentives; the quality and availability of accommodation; smarter service delivery models that make the job more satisfying and effective; better training, development and career opportunities; enabling young people from country New South Wales to build public sector careers in the regions where they live; and unlocking the great untapped potential of our indigenous communities.

I am pleased to report that we are already seeing promising results. For example, we are about to trial a new, single scheme of rural and remote attraction and retention incentives. These incentives include decentralised provision of housing so that workers do not compete with each other for a limited pool of homes. The task force will report back with a full range of costed options but in the meantime the Department of Community Services will trial a new strategy to improve staffing capacity and service delivery in the far west of the State. This trial and the incentives provided will obviously be evaluated through the task force to gauge its effectiveness and determine how similar efforts could be applied in delivering other human services.

The current Department of Community Services recruitment drive has had some success in the Western Region, providing 32 new caseworkers in just the last three months. However, we still have a number of vacancies and there are other staffing challenges, such as higher turnover rates; providing support and management for inexperienced staff, particularly our Aboriginal caseworkers—who make up 20 per cent of our staff in the Western Region and many of whom have not yet achieved the same academic level as other caseworkers; ensuring the safety and security of staff in isolated areas; and giving all staff the peer and professional support they need. We need to do more to attract staff to these areas and, once they are in place, develop their skills and keep them in the workforce.

The SPEAKER: Order! There is too much audible conversation in the Chamber. The member for Epping will cease interjecting.

Mr KEVIN GREENE: It is sad because the member for Barwon has raised these issues with me and I know he is paying keen attention. I am sure that if the member for Murray-Darling were here he would also be concerned about this. It is disappointing that other members of the Opposition are not giving this issue the respect it deserves. I appreciate that the member for Burrinjuck is paying attention. We need to focus on the importance of this issue. We need to do more to attract staff to these areas and, once they are in place, develop their skills and keep them in the workforce.

The SPEAKER: Order! I call the member for Coffs Harbour to order.

Mr KEVIN GREENE: It is hard to keep workers anywhere near the member for Coffs Harbour—I appreciate that—but we are also doing our best in his electorate.

The SPEAKER: Order! I call the member for Coffs Harbour to order for the second time.

Mr KEVIN GREENE: The Department of Community Services has allocated $1.7 million in this year's budget to provide a range of incentives to attract staff to the locations that are hardest to fill. The communities under consideration to be part of this trial include Bourke, Broken Hill, Nyngan, Coonamble, Walgett, Brewarrina, Cobar, Dareton and Wilcannia. A suite of incentives has been developed, including cash incentives paid fortnightly as well as a cash bonus at the end of every year of service in that location; a professional development plan and financial assistance to help staff who do not have a degree and would like to get one; additional annual financial incentives for professional development and support for all casework staff in these areas. But it is not just about throwing money at the problem, it is about working smarter in these areas. We want to provide continuity and certainty of service to families in these more isolated communities. We want our staff to be safe, supported and well resourced. Working in these communities often requires long and frequent travel.

The SPEAKER: Order! I call the member for Coffs Harbour to order for the third time.

Mr KEVIN GREENE: Again I cannot help but respond to the interjection of the member for Coffs Harbour because when I have visited every one of our 80 community services centres in New South Wales I have seen how far and wide they are disbursed. I have taken the time not only to visit places where we do have offices, but also to travel through centres such as Hermidale, and small communities. The member for Tamworth will remember my trip to Kootingal.

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Upper Hunter will cease interjecting. He is on two calls to order.

Mr KEVIN GREENE: The member for Dubbo would be aware of my visit to Trangie. I note, and the Minister for Gaming and Racing will also note, that Trangie bowling club won a major excellence award. The member for Lismore accompanied me as I drove through his electorate—I notice him nodding in agreement. The member for Barwon knows the time I spent visiting his electorate. It is important that we do recognise the commitment of all our staff servicing these remote communities. It is very sad for those people that the member for Coffs Harbour treats this issue with the disdain he is showing here today because we want to provide continuity and certainty of service. Working in these communities does require long and frequent travel; additional safety and accommodation resources; and a strong commitment to keeping workers in touch with their peers. By developing new service models we want to work with the community to achieve all of these elements. To help achieve that, the Department of Community Services in the western region has developed a partnership with the Murdi Paaki Regional Assembly to improve its relationships with the Aboriginal communities in these areas.

I attended a meeting in Bourke last year at which an agreement was brokered between the Department of Community Services and the assembly, an agreement to work together, to put the issues of child protection squarely on the agenda of the community leaders. The Government will act, and act decisively and generously, because rural and remote towns and villages are home to 22 per cent of our population and these communities do not deserve to be left behind. That is why the Iemma Government is supporting these communities.