Appropriation (2009/2010) BillThursday, June 04, 2009 Second readingI am pleased to rise to make a contribution to the debate on the Appropriation (2009/2010) Bill. Each year for the last 10 years millions of Victorians have waited with bated breath for a budget that will deliver the services they desperately need, services such as public transport, health, education and community services, and each year they continue to be disappointed. I was thinking about this budget when I was playing with my three-year-old recently. It struck me that the game he and I were playing is the same game that the Premier and the ministers play week in, week out. It is called blindman's buff, a simple game that requires a person to be blindfolded. In this the Premier and the ministers are all to willing to volunteer -- in fact some say that some of the ministers are permanently blindfolded -- and once blindfolded they withdraw into a world of their own.
They are blind to the failing health-care system, blind to the crumbling public transport network and blind to the breakdown in our education system. The next rule of the game is that you must spin, and this is where the enthusiasm of government members really shows. Let us take this budget. The first spin occurs when the Premier promises that a $31 billion state debt and more than $2 billion a year in annual interest repayments are good news for Victoria. The government spins again when the Premier promises that having 200 000 Victorians set to be jobless by the end of the year is a positive outcome. Then there is more spin when the Premier and the Treasurer pretend that the debts our children and grandchildren will be lumped with will not actually be all that bad. Blinded by their own spin, members of this government teeter on the edge, out of balance and out of control. If it were not for their mates in Canberra temporarily propping them up, over they would fall.
The final step of the game is tagging someone, which is a much-relished opportunity for these blind men. This Premier tries to tag anyone and anything other than himself with the blame -- the global financial crisis, the Kennett government, the opposition, El Ni o, the community, the young and the old. He blames everyone but himself for his poor economic management. The reality is that this budget is no childhood amusement game. Sadly, however, it is a game that is played out all too often in my shadow portfolio areas. From vulnerable Victorians the response to this budget ranges from disappointment to outrage. I have to say that I am very disappointed that the Minister for Mental Health, who spoke before me, has left and is not hearing the messages on her portfolio areas that the community wants to convey as a result of this budget. I turn first to disability services. The peak bodies of national disability services say that this budget undermines the survival and future sustainability of disability organisations. VCOSS (Victorian Council of Social Service) says that 7 in 10 organisations are turning away clients due to lack of funding. Rising inflation and wage increases have placed considerable pressure on the community sector organisations to attract and maintain staff as well as meet the increasing costs of delivering services.
This Labor government has indexed funding at 3.14 per cent, which is 25 per cent less than the funding identified by the Allen Consulting Group as needed for these groups to provide appropriate services to vulnerable Victorians. The minister says this 3.14 per cent was welcomed overwhelmingly. Let me tell you, Acting Speaker, who is underwhelmed. The entire disability sector is underwhelmed by this budget and this indexation and what the government has delivered. Yes, we do need some additional dollars for individuals, but we also need to ensure that we have a strong sector that can deliver the services to individuals and families with disability. The government's lower indexation rate will make it even more difficult for organisations to meet demand and will make it impossible to improve service delivery. Many organisations will continue to struggle to deliver vital supported accommodation respite and day services.
This budget also fails to address the base price for disability services, adding further pressure on an already struggling sector. The government's disability pricing review, which was undertaken by PricewaterhouseCoopers -- and which has not been released and which should be; I call on the minister to release it -- says that the sector is underfunded by more than $50 million. The 2009-10 budget will not reduce the financial strain experienced by disability organisations and their staff, but it will reduce the quality and availability of services for people with a disability and their families. I would like to talk briefly on supported accommodation. For families and carers of people with a disability, supported accommodation is absolutely critical. Describing this budget as a colossal disappointment does not even come close to reality. Carers Victoria says that carers have been ignored in this budget. A critical area for carers is supported accommodation. Individuals and families eagerly awaiting access to supported accommodation have been forgotten.
This is the seventh consecutive year that the Brumby government has failed to provide any additional supported accommodation places for Victorians with a disability. A comparison of last year's funding with next year's funding for residential accommodation support shows a decrease of over 7 per cent. In handing down this bad-news budget the Treasurer claimed that he would deliver a fairer Victoria. For many carers who are crying out for help, frustrated with an inefficient system that does not meet even current demand, let alone plan for the future, this budget is anything but fair. I turn to drug and alcohol services. Just last year the Premier declared alcohol abuse the biggest social issue facing Victoria. Now, 12 months later, alcohol abuse continues to remain a major social issue, but apparently the Premier no longer thinks it is important. Victorians in desperate need of alcohol and drug services are waiting months, and sometimes even years, for treatment and rehabilitation services.
This budget does not provide even one additional drug treatment bed to meet the growing need. Real adjusted funding for drug treatment and rehabilitation services has declined by 1.6 per cent. The peak body for drug and alcohol services in Victoria is VAADA (Victorian Alcohol and Drug Association). It says that the state budget offers little to Victorians with alcohol and drug problems and the services that support them. It is not surprising that the Minister for Mental Health, who has direct responsibility for drug and alcohol services, did not even mention this area in her reply to the budget. That is because she has nothing to say. People in the drug and alcohol sector are disappointed and outraged about her lack of support and the lack of a champion for this area. In April this year the Brumby government released its much-anticipated amphetamine-type stimulant and related drug strategy.
Members may be forgiven for not having realised that this important document was released. When I first came across the document I was astonished. Where was the photo opportunity? Where was the press statement? How very out of character for a government, which for 20 months had been sponsoring the hype around this strategy, to then release it with no fanfare. But when I read the strategy the mystery was solved. There was no photo opportunity because the strategy contained no commitments, only a wish list of ideas. There was no press statement because the strategy contained no money, not even a hint of anything forthcoming. Without any commitments and without any funding, it comes as little surprise that the strategy also failed to include any time lines for implementation. What a sham! Many groups spent months, and in some cases years, trying to come up with a solution to support the 114 000 Victorians who use methamphetamines every year. The Premier should come clean and admit that he and his ministers have no interest in tackling these serious issues and the growing impact of alcohol and drugs on Victorian families and communities. In terms of mental health, when this Labor government came to office Victoria spent more on mental health per capita than any other state, but it has since fallen to sixth place. I am going to say that again: we spent the most in 1999; it has now fallen to sixth. Labor has also spent a decade promising to reform Victoria's mental health system. Each time the promises are made, we have an overabundance of reports.
Finally, in March this year, the much-anticipated reform strategy was released. While this budget provides some welcome additional but urgently needed funding for mental health services, it still does not solve our crisis-driven mental health system. The budget has been talked about as the jobs budget, and there are additional mental health jobs, but the government first identified a critical shortage in Victoria's mental health workforce in 2002, which is seven years ago. It has taken seven years and an increasingly dire situation before the government has finally flagged the need to take some genuine action. While additional funding for mental health jobs is welcome, the sad reality is that the supply of new graduates is low and the availability of a specialised workforce is limited.
The government can fund all the positions it likes, but it has no idea if there are enough people qualified and willing to fill those positions. In 2005 the government's own public mental health workforce strategy 2003-12 found that staff retention was just as important as recruitment. It stated:
We need accompanying workforce measures which will increase the training of mental health workers, introduce retention initiatives and ensure that the working conditions they all face are sustainable.
We see the Minister for Senior Victorians twice a year: once on budget day and then again during Seniors Week. She spends the rest of the time in hibernation. Seniors are missing out because of the Brumby government's failure to plan for our ageing population. Aged and Community Care Victoria, which is the peak aged-care organisation, in its budget submission called for additional state funding to strengthen residential aged care, with a particular focus on rural and regional Victoria, where the government owns 40 per cent of all places. This has not been not delivered. Earlier this year when the minister was presented with an opportunity to improve services in cooperation with the commonwealth, both she and her department failed to attend the Melbourne hearing of a Senate inquiry into residential and community aged care and neglected to even make a submission.
At a time when the aged-care sector is under considerable pressure, this government has not done anything to improve planning and funding and better delivery of services. Instead Victorians are stuck with a minister who is simply not interested and a government that simply cannot be bothered. W affairs is an area that has clearly been forgotten in the budget. Not only has the funding for women's affairs declined, but the government's own minister forgot to put out a press release, which is very unusual for this government, but it is indicative of the fact that there was obviously nothing noteworthy for women in the budget. This government is often heard trumpeting the line that Victoria is the best place to live, work and raise a family. But I say to the Premier that for women this is not the case.
The Premier says Victoria is the best place to live, but the government's own data shows that violent crime is increasing at alarming rates, and women are now twice as likely to be assaulted as they were 10 years ago. The Premier says that Victoria is a great place to work, but women continue to face barriers to accessing flexible employment opportunities and struggle to juggle the demands of work and family life. And when compared to parts of the developed world, Victorian women have a lower participation rate in paid employment. The Premier also says that Victoria is a better place to raise a family, but Labor's failure to appropriately invest in support services has meant that primary carers -- largely women and forgotten in this budget -- have among the lowest levels of general health and wellbeing, and are more financially stressed with no opportunity to accumulate superannuation savings. Overall the significant gaps in the government's social policy mean that its enthusiastically developed strategies will remain unfunded, that accommodation places will not materialise, that access to services will remain complex and that jobs created will remain unfilled. I want to spend a few minutes talking about the Doncaster electorate, because for residents in my electorate this budget is bittersweet. While increased bus services will be welcomed by commuters, Doncaster residents will still have to wait nearly two more years for the services to begin. Even then the services will not match the recommendations made by Sir Rod Eddington to the government. He recommended peak-hour frequencies of about 5 minutes to achieve a high-quality, rail-like service. However, we have no real rail services in my electorate, only buses, and the government will only fund services at half that frequency.
Another disappointment has been the government's failure again to fund the much-awaited and long-promised redevelopment of Box Hill Hospital. Although the upgrade was promised during the whirl of pre-election promises in 2006, the government has still provided no money to improve this vital health facility. It keeps saying it will honour its commitment, but when? People in Manningham and Whitehorse deserve a high-quality facility that meets their health needs. I hope this budget will, however, provide some relief for long-suffering Doncaster and Donvale residents whose lives have been turned upside down with traffic noise since the opening of EastLink. Funding has been provided to retrofit sound barriers along sections of freeways and arterial roads to protect neighbouring homes from noise created by passing vehicles. Donvale and Doncaster residents who have had their lives drastically affected by the noise of vehicles travelling on EastLink are keen to be included on the list of areas funded through the new budget funding.
This government has spent a decade playing a game with Victorians. While the Premier and ministers may choose to remain blind to failing services, Victorian families and individuals feel the effects of it every day. They cannot ignore it; it is their life, and they deal with it day in and day out. While the government's message is spun around and around by the Labor media machine, Victorians continue to be worse off. Unfortunately the rhetoric of self-congratulation and self-promotion from this government is not matched by the realities that Victorian families face day in and day out, and the most vulnerable are at risk and are failing to get the support and services they need. My constituents deserve better, Victorians deserve better, and we need a genuine commitment to delivering the services that vulnerable Victorians need and deserve.
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