2020-11-03
Getting the Industrial Manslaughter bill passed but disappointed at Budget allocations to address homelessness, mental health, climate change and Safe Schools; and promoting training of guide dogs
By Hon. Alison Xamon, MLC, Member for North Metropolitan Region
As another exceptionally busy period draws to a close, I am very pleased to have debated and passed a bill which will, amongst other things, finally implement Industrial Manslaughter into law in Western Australia. As you know, this has been a longstanding campaign of mine and I am more than pleased to see mine and others’ efforts in this space come to fruition. I sincerely hope that these laws will have the desired effect and will help to ensure every worker will return home from work safe.
The WA State Budget 2020-21 was finally tabled on 8 October. I was disappointed at the lack of investment in the critical issue of homelessness, especially as we expect to see numbers increase as Federal coronavirus supports reduce over the next year. Aside from a welcome investment for essential services in remote First Nations communities, the Government did not announce any new social or affordable housing initiatives. There are more than 1000 fewer social housing properties in WA than there were when the current Government took office in 2017. The Government has built, purchased or transferred for use as social housing just 24 properties over the last six months, when we are facing a shortfall of 15,000 properties. I put forward and debated a motion in Parliament condemning the Government for its failure to implement a whole of Government approach to ending homelessness, and particularly its failure to recognise its intersection with WA Police, Transport, Justice, mental health and alcohol and other drugs services.
Elsewhere in the budget, we yet again see a failure to invest in community mental health. The Government continues to allocate only 20% of what is required as outlined as necessary in the Western Australian Mental Health, Alcohol and Other Drugs Services Plan 2015-25. This lack of investment coincides with a worsening situation in our mental health system. I spoke in Parliament on a number of mental health and suicide prevention issues arising from the Annual Reports of our Chief Psychiatrist and the Mental Health Advocacy Service, including the lack of NDIS funding for people with complex mental health conditions living at private psychiatric hospitals, and the continued lack of care for people experiencing acute mental illness, outside of our Emergency Departments. I was devastated to once again need to speak about youth suicide, following the death of a young girl in our community. Simply, children do not suicide if they are receiving adequate support and care. The ongoing issues within the systems which are supposed to support vulnerable children are well known and I asked the Government to, please, implement recommendations which will properly protect our children.
I concluded my reply speech to the 2020-21 State Budget by raising my concerns about the Government’s lack of action on climate change. We have an unprecedented opportunity to tackle climate change and COVID recovery at the same time. It is beyond disappointing that the steps taken towards tackling climate change are mediocre at best. Although the budget contains measures for the development of battery storage and environmental rehabilitation, it falls well short of what is needed and does not put the emphasis on climate change that we would hope to see and that is absolutely necessary. Investment in this area can provide the jobs that we need and we do need jobs – and also set up for our future to be much greener, more carbon efficient and ultimately safer for our children. The budget contains billions of dollars for road building in the forward estimates We know that those kinds of activities do not deliver the jobs per $1 million invested than investment in health and education does. They certainly do not provide the same long-term climate-changing fighting outcomes than spending on renewable energy does. A substantial environmental rehabilitation investment, for example, is not only necessary, but would provide immediate and long-term benefits.
I was very pleased to host Guide Dogs WA at Parliament House, as part of a function to promote the need for puppy raisers to assist with the training of guide dogs for blind or vision-impaired Western Australians. Guide Dogs WA is experiencing challenges training up dogs to meet demand – there is currently a considerable waitlist – and is seeking the community’s help with this important work. Puppy raisers play an important role in the training process, receiving a puppy when it is between six and eight weeks old and taking responsibility for house training and socialising. Puppy raisers attend periodic training and obedience classes with Guide Dogs WA trainers, who also regularly check on the pup’s progress at home and assist with queries or concerns. When puppies begin their formal training at between six and 12 months of age, they move in with a volunteer formal boarder, who takes the young dog to and from ‘school’ in Victoria Park every morning, until training is complete at around 18 months of age. If you have capacity, please visit guidedogswa.com.au to find out more about specific opportunities.
I am concerned about the Government’s decision to withdraw funding from Inclusive Education WA – the modified state version of Safe Schools, which of course was de-funded by the Federal Government in 2017. I pointed out the strong and ongoing need for resources to assist teachers and schools in ensuring LGBTIQ students are safe and supported. We know mental health outcomes for LGBTIQ young people are much poorer than their peers. A 2017 report found young people who identify as Trans are particularly at risk of attempting suicide, with 79.9% having self-harmed. I have also spoken out about barbaric LGBTIQ conversion practices, calling again on the Government to ban the bogus ‘therapy’, including in religious and informal settings.
I have continued to raise issues across my 23 portfolio areas, the detail of which can be comprehensively scrutinised by looking at Hansard and, with the end of the Parliamentary year in sight, I look forward to a summer of campaigning and working alongside our dedicated members, to achieve re-election.
Header photo: Hosting Guide Dogs WA at Parliament House as part of an event to raise awareness of the need for puppy-raisers. Credit: Kirsten Richards