Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

Secondly, on the question of the Bonnie Babes Foundation, let the record again speak for itself: this organisation, which I am absolutely confident does great work, was not funded by the previous government in previous budgets. The previous government made a pre-election commitment on it but there was no flow of funding to the organisation by the previous government during its period in office. Therefore, the challenge that we are presented with is: how do we effectively ensure that women who need these critical services are provided with proper counselling and support across the range of agencies that exist? The responsible course of action, both in these areas and also when it comes to postnatal depression, is to ensure that we have a proper examination right across the sector. The minister has already announced a way to do that. And, in the context of that examination, the minister will be actively consulting with Bonnie Babes and with the other organisations—SANDS, SIDS and Kids and the Stillbirth Foundation—to make sure that we get the best set of services possible for women who are dealing with these extraordinary challenges.

We are talking about an amount of money that has been put forward by Bonnie Babes, and there are requests by others as well. I find it remarkable that those opposite, when it comes to the overall balance in the allocation of government funding, could have happily spent $120-plus million on taxpayer funded advertising on Work Choices. When it comes to that $121 million my strong suggestion to those opposite is that it would have been much better spent right across public health, right across dental health. Instead of abolishing the Commonwealth Dental Health Scheme, why did you not dedicate those funds to the proper delivery of dental services, to the whole raft of perinatal and postnatal services, to the health sector in general? Instead, the former government invested $121 million in an area of spending which could only be described as political propaganda.

In addressing these areas of need, community organisations, non-government organisations and organisations that deliver important services, such as Bonnie Babes, are to be commended. The minister will be consulting with these organisations during the course of her review. We will make sure that the proper delivery of funding to support these critical services for women experiencing these distressing circumstances is met into the future.

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