Rachel Siewert (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answer given by the Minister for Sport (Senator Lundy) to a question without notice asked by Senator Siewert today relating to the Wyndham Early Learning Activity Centre.

I asked this question on the day that we had people from NACCHO, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women from Straight Talk and people from the Aboriginal Indigenous Leadership Centre in this place. These are excellent examples of Aboriginal organisations that are all working to close the gap in life expectancy and life outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. Yet here we have a government represented by Minister Lundy, who could not answer my question about the future of the Wyndham Early Learning Activity centre. This is a classic example of what we should be doing and should be funding so that we can close the gap.

The Wyndham Early Learning Activity centre was established by a group of Aboriginal mothers to benefit their children. It was established over seven years ago and has become a community hub for families in the East Kimberly region. Its culturally appropriate environment allows children to develop social and cognitive skills in a safe environment, engages parents in learning and provides a range of social functions for men and teens as well. The centre was listed by the Commissioner for Children and Young People in WA as an excellent example of a best practice program in her 2012 report Building Blocks: Best practice programs that improve the wellbeing of children and young people: Edition one, along with being a two-time winner—not just once but twice—of the Department for Communities Outstanding Children and Families Service or Project: Regional Service, Children's Week Award—in other words, they do a very good job. Less than a year ago, this government thought that this service was doing such a good job that the Prime Minister opened their brand new centre, around $1.7 million worth, to support this excellent work.

This is an excellent example of a community involvement and development project, yet at the end of June it will lose more than half of its staff. It will go down from five staff to two half-time staff, who I am told will only be able to deliver about 11 hours of support. They are currently funded through a range of programs, but particularly through the Parental and Community Engagement Program—and Senator Lundy has outlined the values of that project and the funding for that program—and obviously, this program is accessed by many other centres as well. The minister said: 'Oh, but Senator that program is going to be re-funded on 1 January 2014.' Well what happens to the centres that are being funded up to 13 June 2013 between 30 June and 1 January 2014 when the funding recommences? And, as we all know, it takes a long time for funding applications go out, for them to be renewed and for the money to flow, so it could be 6 to 9 months, or 12 months, without funding. Has the government not thought what that means to centres such as WELA, and to the provision of that service? On top of that, they have not yet been told whether or not they will have funding under other funding programs that exist. The only funding they will retain at this stage that they know is certain—this is less than a month away; this is just on two weeks away—is a relatively small amount of funding that they get from the Communities for Children programs.

So far, WELA has not been given or told of any other funding options. They have no transition arrangements into other funding. They are reliant on this funding to provide what I have already outlined are these excellent services—and it is not just the community saying they are excellent, it has in fact been recognised by both the Department of Communities in Western Australia and the Commissioner for Children and Young People. This will have a very significant impact on the delivery of services in Wyndham and to the communities in the East Kimberley region that depend on this type of funding. It should be a matter of priority for government to ensure that this service can continue, and that this centre can continue to deliver these excellent services. Is the government committed to closing the gap or not? I have heard several speeches—rather good speeches, in fact—by government ministers today at various functions today—at NACCHO this morning, at Straight Talk, and at the lunch for the Indigenous Leadership Centre—all about needing to close the gap, and about valuing the work that Aboriginal communities and Aboriginal community driven projects do. The WELA centre is a classic example: why is the government not engaging, and ensuring that this program does not lose its staff and continue to do its excellent work? (Time expired)

Question agreed to.