Mr WARREN - 2008-02-13
In Closing the Gap, the Northern Territory government committed to improve early childhood health and development, preventative health and primary health care of indigenous Territorians, and to substantially boost child protection resources to better protect vulnerable children. Can you please update the House on these very important initiatives?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Goyder for his question, because it is a very important question, and the three areas that he mentioned in relation to Closing the Gap are crucial areas.
In antenatal care, maternal and child health, and early learning, there have been substantial investments by government as part of the Closing the Gap package. Indeed, extra staff have been put on to address that issue, because we know that those early years of childhood and the antenatal period are really crucial times for childhood development. If there is not enough support then, there is the likelihood of development of serious chronic disease, particularly in later life.
It is also noteworthy that, in the last fortnight, I had the pleasure of meeting Professor David Olds, an American who visited Australia recently with support from the Commonwealth government. Professor Olds is an expert in this area, and has done extensive work in the United States that has been verified by clinical trials. It is very simple, really. It is all about case managing those mothers and children at risk, almost on a case-by-case basis, by maternal and child health nurses. That has been very successful.
What we have been doing in this area dovetails into what the Commonwealth government is proposing moving towards. There will be lots of mutual support there. We have already taken substantial steps. I welcome the involvement of the Australian government to further boost this area, because it is of such crucial importance.
Outreach midwives are also critical to the plan. We have expanded our outreach midwives from four to six positions across the Territory. There have also been the child health checks that have been part of the intervention. There will be a lot of clinical work through referrals that flow from those child health checks. Once again, we are cooperating with the federal government in this regard. There will also be a substantial surgical load associated with that in the coming months.
The second part of the member’s question related to access to primary health care. In 2008-09, the Australian government has committed an additional $50m each year for two years to improve access to primary health care across the Territory. Once again, that is very welcome. The new federal government has come on board with this and they are going to resource that. Those are some initiatives in health.
In Family and Community Services, because these things dovetail with the Health department, I would like to mention a few things there. Detailed implementation of Closing the Gap plan, which dovetails with the Care and Protection of Children, is being implemented. The position of Children’s Commissioner, which is a new position, has been created and recruitment to this role is under way. Police and Family and Children’s Services are also working together to establish Safe NT, the new body that will administer the system for child-related employment screening. Under the Family Violence Community Program, work has also commenced on the development of remote safe houses and new remote family support services.
FACS is also getting protection workers on the ground in these remote areas. The agency is actively recruiting people from all around Australia and overseas to fill these critical positions. The Child Abuse Task Force, which is based in Alice Springs, is up and running. The FACS component of that is now 27, with Closing the Gap funding 12 positions this financial year. Four new child protection positions have been created in Top End remote regions, including two extra Aboriginal community workers and four new child protection positions across the Territory. Expansion of the sexual assault referral centres is progressing well in Alice Springs, Darwin and Tennant Creek, along with accommodation options for Katherine.
Closing the Gap is a government response to a report that was commissioned by government. The plan is ambitious. However, Madam Speaker, we have to be ambitious to deal with the magnitude of the problem. We believe it is achievable. Government is moving along with and implementing that plan and redressing indigenous disadvantage.
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Goyder for his question, because it is a very important question, and the three areas that he mentioned in relation to Closing the Gap are crucial areas.
In antenatal care, maternal and child health, and early learning, there have been substantial investments by government as part of the Closing the Gap package. Indeed, extra staff have been put on to address that issue, because we know that those early years of childhood and the antenatal period are really crucial times for childhood development. If there is not enough support then, there is the likelihood of development of serious chronic disease, particularly in later life.
It is also noteworthy that, in the last fortnight, I had the pleasure of meeting Professor David Olds, an American who visited Australia recently with support from the Commonwealth government. Professor Olds is an expert in this area, and has done extensive work in the United States that has been verified by clinical trials. It is very simple, really. It is all about case managing those mothers and children at risk, almost on a case-by-case basis, by maternal and child health nurses. That has been very successful.
What we have been doing in this area dovetails into what the Commonwealth government is proposing moving towards. There will be lots of mutual support there. We have already taken substantial steps. I welcome the involvement of the Australian government to further boost this area, because it is of such crucial importance.
Outreach midwives are also critical to the plan. We have expanded our outreach midwives from four to six positions across the Territory. There have also been the child health checks that have been part of the intervention. There will be a lot of clinical work through referrals that flow from those child health checks. Once again, we are cooperating with the federal government in this regard. There will also be a substantial surgical load associated with that in the coming months.
The second part of the member’s question related to access to primary health care. In 2008-09, the Australian government has committed an additional $50m each year for two years to improve access to primary health care across the Territory. Once again, that is very welcome. The new federal government has come on board with this and they are going to resource that. Those are some initiatives in health.
In Family and Community Services, because these things dovetail with the Health department, I would like to mention a few things there. Detailed implementation of Closing the Gap plan, which dovetails with the Care and Protection of Children, is being implemented. The position of Children’s Commissioner, which is a new position, has been created and recruitment to this role is under way. Police and Family and Children’s Services are also working together to establish Safe NT, the new body that will administer the system for child-related employment screening. Under the Family Violence Community Program, work has also commenced on the development of remote safe houses and new remote family support services.
FACS is also getting protection workers on the ground in these remote areas. The agency is actively recruiting people from all around Australia and overseas to fill these critical positions. The Child Abuse Task Force, which is based in Alice Springs, is up and running. The FACS component of that is now 27, with Closing the Gap funding 12 positions this financial year. Four new child protection positions have been created in Top End remote regions, including two extra Aboriginal community workers and four new child protection positions across the Territory. Expansion of the sexual assault referral centres is progressing well in Alice Springs, Darwin and Tennant Creek, along with accommodation options for Katherine.
Closing the Gap is a government response to a report that was commissioned by government. The plan is ambitious. However, Madam Speaker, we have to be ambitious to deal with the magnitude of the problem. We believe it is achievable. Government is moving along with and implementing that plan and redressing indigenous disadvantage.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016