Social and Community Service Workers
Medically Supervised Injecting Room

The Hon. PENNY SHARPE (Parliamentary Secretary) [9.21 p.m.]: New South Wales is a State of abundant wealth—in our environment, in our people, in our diversity and in our spirit. We are able to care for all our citizens; that we do not is a burning injustice. Too many people live in poverty; too many experience violence; too many experience a society where they have no place. All our people deserve the opportunity to live with dignity and all our people deserve to be treated with respect. None of our citizens should be shut out of our State's prosperity. With that in mind I pay tribute to the social and community workers in New South Wales.

Community workers in this State are the people that we turn to when things are not going well. Our neighbourhood centres, refuges, disability services, drug and alcohol services, family support services and employment services are the first port of call to people who need help. Community services are the lifeline to those in our community who are shut out of our prosperity. The workers in those services are professionals who dedicate their working lives to making New South Wales a place that can assist and support all regardless of their circumstances. A strong and well-supported community sector workforce is an essential part of tackling social exclusion in our communities.

The Australian Services Union has recently released an excellent report that sets out how the social and community services sector workforce needs to be supported so that it can continue to play its vital role in supporting our most vulnerable people. The report is called "Building Social Inclusion in Australia: Priorities for the social and community services sector workforce". The report notes that the provision of adequate and appropriate social and community services is essential to Australia's social cohesion and the development of a fair and equitable society. If we are to build a society that is truly inclusive then we must find ways in which we can address the disadvantage of many of our citizens. Community services fulfil the direct needs of individuals and create social cohesion in their communities. That dual role means that the social and community services sector workforce is the key tool to improve the health and wellbeing of all Australians.

Research indicates that communities in which people can access community services have higher levels of social capital. Societies with high levels of social capital tend to have lower crime rates, improved child welfare, better public administration, reduced political corruption and more efficient capital and labour markets. They also have better education performance. The report demonstrates yet again the important role that unions are able to play, a role that contributes not just to the wellbeing of their members but to the wellbeing of our whole society. I commend the Australian Services Union for this important report, which sets out the needs of not only their members but the workforce as a whole.

In New South Wales the Government actively works with the community sector. More than half the budget of the New South Wales Department of Community Services is allocated to the community sector. The Government relies on the community sector to deliver the services that our citizens need. I am pleased that in the recent budget the New South Wales Government demonstrated its commitment to community sector workers by ensuring that their pay rise under the social and community services award was provided for through indexation. I note with concern that the Howard Government continues to fail the community sector by not funding indexation increases for joint funded programs such as the Supported Accommodation Assistance Program and the Home and Community Care Program. To ensure that services in our communities are not cut back, the Howard Government must come to the party and fund these workers appropriately. Social and community workers are the backbone of our community. I will continue to work with the workers and their union to ensure that all of our citizens are able to share in our prosperity.

I also put on the record some information that has come to me as a result of the debate we had about the Medically Supervised Injecting Centre. I have changed some of the details so as to not identify the people concerned. A story has been relayed to me about a parent who wishes to pass on her thanks to this Parliament for allowing the injecting centre to remain open. She told the story of her daughter, who has been addicted to heroin since she was 16, and she is now 23. The mother has driven her daughter to the Medically Supervised Injecting Centre for her daughter to inject. The centre has revived her daughter on more than three occasions: the centre has saved her life.

The young woman's family has spent $5,000 to get her a naltrexone implant but that was not successful. The young woman is currently in treatment in a private facility and her mother remains concerned that that will not continue, and currently it is not going well. However, the mother believes that the decision taken by this Parliament is at least giving her daughter a chance to stay alive until she is ready to finally kick the habit, over which he has very little control.