HANSARD EXTRACT
| Adjournment:
Werriwa Electorate |
| 8 February 2006 |
Mr HAYES
(Werriwa)
(7.30
p.m.)—Just
over 12 months ago the suburb of Macquarie Fields experienced four
nights of rioting. The scenes televised on the news each night were
not pleasant, and the events of those nights have had a lasting
effect on the residents of Macquarie Fields and the surrounding
suburbs. Unlike the more recent riots in suburbs like Cronulla,
which have been put down to racial tensions, it seems to
everyone—parents, grandparents, children, community workers and
certainly the police—in the community of Macquarie Fields that,
putting aside the trigger for the events, those few nights of
violence and disorder were the product of frustration.
Unlike recent riots in beachside suburbs, things have not returned
to normal nearly as quickly in Macquarie Fields. The physical signs
of the events have long gone but the social impacts on members of
the community continue. Sadly, all too regularly I hear reports of
young people who are applying for jobs being faced with comments
about the riots, just because they happen to live in or around
Macquarie Fields. Some have even gone so far as to put down
different addresses, outside the postcode area, just for an
opportunity to get through the first cull of job applicants.
You would be hard pressed to find any local who believes that life
is easy in the public housing estates of Macquarie Fields, Ingleburn
or Minto. It is not. Many residents rely on the support services
provided by government to help them manage their daily lives. In the
main the residents of these areas are great people, and I am proud
to be their representative in this place. The residents of public
housing estates in suburbs like Macquarie Fields face some
fundamental disadvantages in life, but they are supported by a
number of organisations that seek to overcome this disadvantage
through the delivery of excellent support services.
There is no doubt that the residents of these areas have been
consistently ignored by this government. While they are battlers,
they are not the
Howard
battlers living in marginal seats. Rather they are the victims of
this government’s neglect when it comes to funding for public
housing, which has experienced a real reduction of 30 per cent since
1996. They are the victims of the government’s obsession with the
lowest priced delivery of government funded support services.
The key to improving areas of substantial disadvantage is
consistency and relations building between service providers and
those needing the support services. A model of government funding
that simply seeks to give grants to providers by way of a
competitive tender often does not result in the level of consistency
required to achieve outcomes. Today I have written to the Minister
for Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, proposing
the adoption of an affirmative action plan for Macquarie Fields.
Under this plan, competitive tendering for federal government grants
for the provision of social services would cease for a period of
five years with a view to allowing consistent service provision in
areas of fundamental disadvantage. This plan will shift the focus
off the cost of services and put it back onto what is being
delivered.
No longer will the federal government’s responsibility be considered
to be discharged simply through the provision of funding, rather it
will shift the focus to the delivery of real solutions. The plan
does not propose that competitive tendering for these services be
scrapped altogether but that it be suspended for a period of time.
Rather than seeking the cheapest provider, the government would
shift its focus to performance management in small and highly
targeted areas to achieve some positive outcomes in communities that
are in considerable need. The plan may allow service providers to
come together, possibly to pool funds and establish programs with a
whole-of-community focus rather than have a model for programs
delivered in isolation due to funding constraints.
A coordinated approach has had some success with young people in the
Macarthur
region, through the Macarthur Youth Commitment. The Macarthur Youth
Commitment, which may lose its funding later this year, is an
organisation that has established a network to inform strategic
planning and actions to build partnerships in the area, and it has
had some very significant success.
I encourage the minister to seriously consider this plan so that
action may be taken to break the cycle of unemployment, crime, drug
and alcohol abuse, domestic violence and child neglect that has come
to characterise some areas within our community. A small-scale,
sensible and targeted affirmative action strategy can only have a
positive impact. (Time expired)
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