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28 April 2008 THE NEW ZEALAND DELEGATION I had the honour to be part of an official Senate committee delegation to New Zealand in mid-April. Our Senate Community Affairs Committee spent four days in Wellington investigating NZ services and structures relating to mental health and to other social services and health areas. As a centre-right politician, I found it refreshing to experience the buzz that a 14.5% lead in the polls is giving the Nationals opposition over the incumbent Labour Government. Nationals leader, John Key, is neck-and-neck with Labour Prime Minister, Helen Clark. The NZ election is due by November 15 this year. Our committee met a number of opposition Shadow Ministers and they all impressed me with their knowledge and readiness to take on government. We also spent some time with the NZ Mental Health Commission, the independent statutory authority that oversees and critiques mental health service delivery. There is no equivalent body in Australia. New Zealand has two levels of government—national and regional—and my impression was that this makes service delivery much simpler. The Commission felt that their existence ‘smoothed’ out the delivery of services, both in terms of what services were delivered and where they were delivered. There was a lot less of the sense that the ‘loudest voices’ got what they were after to the detriment of potentially needier, but less vocal, players in the mental health system. Given that one of the very few ideas relating to disability from our 2020 Summit (see below) was the establishment of a national accident insurance scheme, it was interesting to hear the views of New Zealanders on their Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC). The no-fault accident compensation scheme has been operating, in various forms, for more than 30 years. The general view was that the scheme operates well—as far as it goes. Numerous people mentioned that it has led to “two classes” of service for people with a disability—one for those who acquire a disability because of an accident and “the rest”. One politician summed it up: “If you’re going to have a disability in New Zealand, try not to be born with it.” I was pleased to have the opportunity to meet a representative of the New Zealand Down Syndrome Association, but disheartened to find that the disability community struggles with many of the same issues that we do—chronic underfunding of services, services that do not meet consumer needs and rhetoric about inclusion that is not delivered in reality. Because there are no State governments, New Zealanders at least are seemingly spared the ‘ducking and weaving’ merry-go-round between State and Federal government that Australians too often encounter. ANZAC DAY Whilst Anzac Day now acknowledges all of our Defence forces and all their service, it was good to see the crucial engagements on the Western Front in World War 1 emerge next to Gallipoli as a focus of commemoration. For the first time, a dawn service was held at Villers-Brettonneux to mark the 90th anniversary of that battle. Queensland Liberal senator, Ian Macdonald, was among those present to mark the occasion. Throughout Australia, commemoration of Anzac Day continues to increase in popularity with large crowds at hundreds of dawn services. In Brisbane, more than 15,000 attended the dawn service. YOUNG ENVIRONMENTALIST OF THE YEAR In recognition of the important environmental work undertaken by many young Australians, the Banksia Environmental Foundation will be presenting the Young Environmentalist of the Year Award. Closing date for nominations is May 19. This award acknowledges the vital contribution made by young Australians (between 15 and 25 years of age) to the environment. It covers the environmental spectrum where individuals affect change either at a local, national or international level. The award will be presented in Melbourne on July 18, 2008. If you know any young people who have made a significant contribution to the Australian environment, request an entry kit at http://www.banksiafdn.com/2008_young_entry.php before May 19, 2008. 2020 SUMMIT - FALLOUT Readers of Queensland onLine will know that I was fairly sceptical, if not downright cynical, about the process of the 2020 Summit from the start. Without even going into the politics of what a newly elected Government might do with numerous ideas that weren’t on their existing (and lengthy) agenda, I just couldn’t see how one BIG function with very many participants and very little time would produce truly fresh ideas. Nevertheless I tried to be optimistic that there might just be one great idea and not adopt a sour grapes attitude. In the end, I was disappointed by the Interim Report, especially in regard to my two particular areas of interest—disability and governance. The term 'disability' and its variants are used only six times in the Interim 2020 Report. The difficulties faced by carers of people with a disability gets two mentions; the suggested national insurance scheme for people who acquire a disability takes the score to five; and there is one vague mention of 'support for disabilities' at the end of a shopping list of social concerns. There is no mention of the concerns of people who themselves have a disability, let alone a vision for their futures. It's very disappointing. In the area of governance, this was our opportunity to launch some of the hard ideas. My own view is that we should definitely look at including local government and at recognising indigenous claims in the Constitution, but while we are about it let’s look at abolishing the States. The Federal model is simply no longer working. Labor Governments can no longer pretend that this is somehow the fault of the Liberal Federal Government. Health, education and water continue to be badly, almost criminally, mishandled at State level and the COAG dysfunction continues. In the Governance stream, Senate clerk Harry Evans told The Age that the group facilitators were "amateurs" who didn't understand ideas and terminology and ignored practical proposals to reform Parliament because they were not "big and exciting". Mr Evans said his sub-group recommended five proposals to improve Parliament, all of which failed to make the final cut. "They sank without a trace in the report writing because they were not 'big ideas', they were not going to lead to cheering in the streets," he said. One of the most concerning outcomes of the 2020 Summit was the apparent muzzling and ‘guiding’ of many participants, with some participants saying they cannot recognise the "big ideas" attributed to them while others claim they were "systematically silenced". Delegates to the productivity, indigenous, rural and community services sessions at the summit have said they felt railroaded into signing off on the agenda of those chairing and facilitating their streams. They say the division of the streams into sub-groups was arbitrary and confusing. Even the Prime Minister's headline idea for the summit - one-stop centres to support pre-schooler health, education and care - was never discussed, but simply appeared in the outcomes document released by Mr Rudd on Sunday afternoon. A participant in the productivity stream, Jennifer Buckingham, from the Centre for Independent Studies, said what was projected on the screen at the closing ceremony did not reflect discussion among the group. "There was an executive decision made about what was going to go up representing our group, and it didn't represent that at all," she said. There was never any "explicit endorsement" of Mr Rudd's idea for one-stop parent and child centres, and she would have voiced reservations about the cost if it had come up for discussion. Fr Chris Riley, from the community organisation Youth Off the Streets, said he could not even get the subject he had come to the summit to discuss, child abuse, included. This was backed by child abuse expert Freda Briggs from the University of South Australia. "I pointed out that abused children in this country are severely disadvantaged, especially when they get into the justice system," Professor Briggs said. "The facilitator snapped and said, 'I am not going to write that down'. From the very beginning, the discussion topics were preordained. Chris and I were systematically silenced." Security delegates said discussion had been dominated by "soft power" issues, such as the need for Australians to learn foreign languages to avoid a future security risk, while "hard power" issues, such as military capability and nuclear disarmament, had been neglected. Defence analyst Abraham Gubler said of the security session: "A lot of the ideas brought up were actually old ideas, some of us with new ideas didn't get a chance to discuss them." Rural journalist Genevieve Barlow said the impression given in the document was that water security and regulation had dominated the rural session. "There was a lot more discussion on matters like health and education and tourism, and how important they are for rural areas," she said. "Members of our group were disappointed that wasn't presented in the summing up at the plenary session." Indigenous academic Peter Buckskin, from the University of South Australia, said he was surprised when a proposal for scholarships to enable Aboriginal children to attend boarding schools appeared on the final document, but there was no mention of a treaty with indigenous people or a commission to oversee the "mainstreaming" of indigenous services. "Some of us saw 2020 as an exercise in participatory government although by the end I think we saw it as being really very heavily controlled by government…" National Water Commissioner, Dr Chloe Munro, said. A spokesman for Mr Rudd said that the final text of the summit's initial report was "finalised by agreement between the co-chairs of the individual streams". NATIONAL SECURITY HOTLINE The National Security Hotline is the single point of contact for the public to report possible signs of terrorism. It also provides information to callers on a wide range of national security matters. The National Security Hotline number is 1800 123 400. From overseas you can call the Hotline on (+61) 1300 123 401. Some of the best people to spot things that are
out of the ordinary in a neighbourhood or workplace are those who are there
every day. Whether or not something is suspicious can depend on the
circumstances. Look at the situation as a whole. If it doesn’t add up, call the
24-hour National Security Hotline. Trained operators take every call seriously
and you can remain anonymous. A national website has been launched to link mature age jobseekers with age-friendly employers. www.olderworkers.com.au aims to provide older jobseekers with the confidence to apply for positions knowing that their age will not be a disadvantage. You can lodge your CV or apply for jobs placed on the website. It also caters for Grey Nomads and seasonal workers. 20th ANNIVERSARY OF PARLIAMENT HOUSE Parliament House will celebrate its 20th anniversary on May 9, 2008 and will be holding an Open Day from 9am-5pm on Saturday, May 10. The new Parliament was an enormous undertaking with more than 10,000 people working directly on the project and an estimated 40,000 contributing to the construction of the new building. The building incorporates more than 240,000 sq m of internal spaces, comprises more than 4500 rooms, used more than 300,000 cu m of concrete and more than 24,000 granite slabs to finish the external curved walls. The nationally recognised flag mast used more than 200 tonnes of stainless steel. This year, the Parliamentary Education Office will also celebrate 20 years of educating students and teachers about our system of government. The PEO produces educational publications and resources to support classroom teachers. The PEO also provides support for school visits to Parliament in Canberra. Please let me know if your school is visiting. CONGRATULATIONS TO FEC OFFICE HOLDERS The Liberal Party in Queensland is now halfway through the election of Federal Electorate Council office bearers, and I'd like to thank all of those who have stood for election or are about to. Organisational positions such as FEC Chair, secretary or treasurer in the Liberal Party don't offer a lot of glory - it can be a thankless task at times. However, all of us in politics owe our positions to those who work behind the scenes, and if I can help at any time please don't hesitate to ask. If I don't catch up with you at your FEC AGM, I look forward to seeing you at State Convention. WALK SAFELY TO SCHOOL DAY
Sue Boyce |
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