Ms LEE - 2012-10-24
Can you inform the House on the impact rising rent prices are having on the ability to attract and retain frontline child protection staff?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, thank you to the new member for Arnhem. Yes, child protection, as we all know, is one of the most challenging areas of government. The former government should have been well aware that recruiting staff to child protection is extraordinarily difficult. The former government had enormous difficulty trying to fill positions which they created - the many positions they created which they did not apply funding to; but that is a different matter.
They went far afield. They went overseas; they took groups of staff on extensive recruitment drives to various places around the world, costing an enormous amount of money when, in fact, they should have been looking in their own back yard as to what the problem was in recruitment. Probably, one of the main deterrents for people coming to the Northern Territory, particularly to work in child protection, is a lack of affordable housing.
This former government has sat on its hands for over a decade, wedged firmly behind them, saying, ‘Why can we not recruit staff to child protection’, when the answer was right in front of them. The answer is very simple: these people will not come to the Northern Territory to work, particularly in child protection - because it is not a high-paying field - when the cost of rental accommodation is, in some instances, astronomical. As the members for Arnhem said, it averages $700 per week for new renters, which is a big chunk out of anyone’s wages. These people may be professional people, at a P1, P2, or even P3 level, but $700 out of a child protection worker’s pay packet each week is a great deal to pay.
The former government - the opposition now, thank goodness for that - failed to keep in mind that we have been in government for eight weeks and four days. They were in government for 11 years and they failed to release land in a timely fashion; they were very tardy in how they went about creating housing for the future of Territorians. An example that has been put forward today is how it has impacted, and continues to impact, on the child protection industry in the Northern Territory, one of the most important areas of government business, and they failed to look after these people’s best interests.
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, thank you to the new member for Arnhem. Yes, child protection, as we all know, is one of the most challenging areas of government. The former government should have been well aware that recruiting staff to child protection is extraordinarily difficult. The former government had enormous difficulty trying to fill positions which they created - the many positions they created which they did not apply funding to; but that is a different matter.
They went far afield. They went overseas; they took groups of staff on extensive recruitment drives to various places around the world, costing an enormous amount of money when, in fact, they should have been looking in their own back yard as to what the problem was in recruitment. Probably, one of the main deterrents for people coming to the Northern Territory, particularly to work in child protection, is a lack of affordable housing.
This former government has sat on its hands for over a decade, wedged firmly behind them, saying, ‘Why can we not recruit staff to child protection’, when the answer was right in front of them. The answer is very simple: these people will not come to the Northern Territory to work, particularly in child protection - because it is not a high-paying field - when the cost of rental accommodation is, in some instances, astronomical. As the members for Arnhem said, it averages $700 per week for new renters, which is a big chunk out of anyone’s wages. These people may be professional people, at a P1, P2, or even P3 level, but $700 out of a child protection worker’s pay packet each week is a great deal to pay.
The former government - the opposition now, thank goodness for that - failed to keep in mind that we have been in government for eight weeks and four days. They were in government for 11 years and they failed to release land in a timely fashion; they were very tardy in how they went about creating housing for the future of Territorians. An example that has been put forward today is how it has impacted, and continues to impact, on the child protection industry in the Northern Territory, one of the most important areas of government business, and they failed to look after these people’s best interests.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016