Mr VOWLES - 2015-04-29
Yesterday’s budget missed the opportunity to properly fund youth services in Central Australia, following a rise in youth antisocial behaviour and heightened community concern about youth behaviour in the town. The member for Araluen called for a modest increase of $2.4m over three years. Mr Blair McFarland of the Central Australian Youth Link Up Service told the ABC last night, ‘I would have thought it would be a really good time to be putting some fresh money into preventative stuff. I thought there would have been something that would have made people on the ground happy.’
Given that respected Alice Springs leaders are calling for urgent government action, why did you ignore this and instead opt to provide a measly $600 000 in additional funds Territory-wide?
ANSWER
Mr Deputy Speaker, like a strange-looking horse, the member is travelling around with blinkers on and not seeing what is happening in Central Australia. We have increased the child protection budget and invested in the youth centre so we can enable infrastructure for local services to provide their services to youth. We are investing in sport and leisure facilities so youth have more to do, including investment in the netball courts, which is the sport with the highest participation in Alice Springs. We are also investing in athletics tracks, motor sports and a range of other things in Central Australia.
This is probably the biggest budget for Central Australia in the Territory’s history. Welcome to the shadow ministry, member for Johnston, clearly you have missed a beat. What you would have also missed is the additional resources we have put into after-hours youth services in Central Australia. You would have missed the recent announcement of the coordination of government services to ensure we have whole-of-life plans for parents, families and youth, linking up child protection, police, town council and a range of other areas.
You did not have an opportunity of pointing to anything specific where there was a gap. The money that has gone into Central Australia through this budget will be the biggest spend in infrastructure that Central Australia has seen in at least 15 years. You were in government for eleven-and-a-half years and you were not investing in that.
People of Alice Springs are contacting me and thanking me for the investment going into Alice Springs, including things such as a new preschool and a new childcare centre. They are saying we are not only stimulating the construction industry, we are providing more facilities for leisure and sport to get greater levels of participation, and providing services for after hours to support youth who are not being provided support by their families, plus we are providing a range of coordinated government linkup services to meet the needs of those families which disintegrate all too often in Central Australia.
Given that respected Alice Springs leaders are calling for urgent government action, why did you ignore this and instead opt to provide a measly $600 000 in additional funds Territory-wide?
ANSWER
Mr Deputy Speaker, like a strange-looking horse, the member is travelling around with blinkers on and not seeing what is happening in Central Australia. We have increased the child protection budget and invested in the youth centre so we can enable infrastructure for local services to provide their services to youth. We are investing in sport and leisure facilities so youth have more to do, including investment in the netball courts, which is the sport with the highest participation in Alice Springs. We are also investing in athletics tracks, motor sports and a range of other things in Central Australia.
This is probably the biggest budget for Central Australia in the Territory’s history. Welcome to the shadow ministry, member for Johnston, clearly you have missed a beat. What you would have also missed is the additional resources we have put into after-hours youth services in Central Australia. You would have missed the recent announcement of the coordination of government services to ensure we have whole-of-life plans for parents, families and youth, linking up child protection, police, town council and a range of other areas.
You did not have an opportunity of pointing to anything specific where there was a gap. The money that has gone into Central Australia through this budget will be the biggest spend in infrastructure that Central Australia has seen in at least 15 years. You were in government for eleven-and-a-half years and you were not investing in that.
People of Alice Springs are contacting me and thanking me for the investment going into Alice Springs, including things such as a new preschool and a new childcare centre. They are saying we are not only stimulating the construction industry, we are providing more facilities for leisure and sport to get greater levels of participation, and providing services for after hours to support youth who are not being provided support by their families, plus we are providing a range of coordinated government linkup services to meet the needs of those families which disintegrate all too often in Central Australia.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016