❓ WA Disability Services Minister accuses the Commonwealth government of political posturing regarding disability funding. WA offered $156M, expecting matched funding, but the Commonwealth appears to be including this in a pre-spent $1.8B package.
AnsweredQoN 451Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
COMMONWEALTH STATE/TERRITORY DISABILITY AGREEMENT
Can the minister inform the house of any recent developments in negotiations over the Commonwealth State/Territory Disability Agreement? Ms S.M. McHALE
Can the minister inform the house of any recent developments in negotiations over the Commonwealth State/Territory Disability Agreement? Ms S.M. McHALE
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for Southern River for his question. Two weeks ago I informed the house of the then current state of negotiations. We had met with the federal Minister for Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, and Western Australia had put on the table an offer of $156 million of cumulative funding in response to the offer made by the minister in April. Members may recall the minister’s press release, which stated, in part - “In addition, I made a separate and very generous offer to match their own funding for unmet need . . . “Only Western Australia, the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory responded positively . . . It was good news that the minister acknowledged that we had put an offer on the table. That offer was put on the table on 27 June and reaffirmed on 27 July. Subsequently, the federal minister and the Prime Minister put out a press release saying that $1.8 billion would be directly available to individuals, made up of three key components: help for older carers and their families; aid for children with disabilities; and money for respite care. On the face of it, it was all good news. Herein comes the rub, and it is very important that everybody listens to this. Western Australia put on the table an offer of $156 million that, if matched, would support more than 3 000 people in Western Australia whose needs are very significant, and whom we wish to support. As recently as last week we were informed, via the Australian Capital Territory, through commonwealth officials, that that matched funding was part of the $1.8 billion on the table. This must be of great concern to all members of this house. Never has the commonwealth minister indicated that the offer of matched funding was subject to the $1.8 billion. Never did that $1.8 billion have the capacity to fund the matched offer to the state. Indeed, the $1.8 billion has already been spent. As far as we know, this information is absolutely correct, and I hope the federal minister confirms that that is not the case. However, the intelligence we have is that the commonwealth officials have indicated to the ACT that its contribution and that of Western Australia must come out of the $1.8 billion. As far as I am concerned, that was never indicated by the commonwealth minister. The $1.8 billion has already been spent. It cannot be spent twice. All I can deduce from this is that it has been nothing more than pure political rhetoric from the commonwealth. Mr R.F. Johnson : Goodness me! Ms S.M. McHALE : I am glad the member for Hillarys agrees. This is pure political posturing on the part of the federal government. The matching funds are not there. The $1.8 billion that, in fact, was very little more than an effort to buy support with a one-off grant has already been spent, and has no capacity to fund the matching funding. We want a fair deal for people with disabilities. We have prepared and placed on the table an offer of $156 million cumulatively. We are giving a fair deal for people with disabilities and it is time the federal government also offered a fair deal. Clearly, Mr Howard and Minister Brough are not up to the job, and cannot deliver a fair deal for people with disabilities.
Ms S.M. McHALE replied: I thank the member for Southern River for his question. Two weeks ago I informed the house of the then current state of negotiations. We had met with the federal Minister for Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, and Western Australia had put on the table an offer of $156 million of cumulative funding in response to the offer made by the minister in April. Members may recall the minister’s press release, which stated, in part - “In addition, I made a separate and very generous offer to match their own funding for unmet need . . . “Only Western Australia, the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory responded positively . . . It was good news that the minister acknowledged that we had put an offer on the table. That offer was put on the table on 27 June and reaffirmed on 27 July. Subsequently, the federal minister and the Prime Minister put out a press release saying that $1.8 billion would be directly available to individuals, made up of three key components: help for older carers and their families; aid for children with disabilities; and money for respite care. On the face of it, it was all good news. Herein comes the rub, and it is very important that everybody listens to this. Western Australia put on the table an offer of $156 million that, if matched, would support more than 3 000 people in Western Australia whose needs are very significant, and whom we wish to support. As recently as last week we were informed, via the Australian Capital Territory, through commonwealth officials, that that matched funding was part of the $1.8 billion on the table. This must be of great concern to all members of this house. Never has the commonwealth minister indicated that the offer of matched funding was subject to the $1.8 billion. Never did that $1.8 billion have the capacity to fund the matched offer to the state. Indeed, the $1.8 billion has already been spent. As far as we know, this information is absolutely correct, and I hope the federal minister confirms that that is not the case. However, the intelligence we have is that the commonwealth officials have indicated to the ACT that its contribution and that of Western Australia must come out of the $1.8 billion. As far as I am concerned, that was never indicated by the commonwealth minister. The $1.8 billion has already been spent. It cannot be spent twice. All I can deduce from this is that it has been nothing more than pure political rhetoric from the commonwealth. Mr R.F. Johnson : Goodness me! Ms S.M. McHALE : I am glad the member for Hillarys agrees. This is pure political posturing on the part of the federal government. The matching funds are not there. The $1.8 billion that, in fact, was very little more than an effort to buy support with a one-off grant has already been spent, and has no capacity to fund the matching funding. We want a fair deal for people with disabilities. We have prepared and placed on the table an offer of $156 million cumulatively. We are giving a fair deal for people with disabilities and it is time the federal government also offered a fair deal. Clearly, Mr Howard and Minister Brough are not up to the job, and cannot deliver a fair deal for people with disabilities.
I thank the member for Southern River for his question. Two weeks ago I informed the house of the then current state of negotiations. We had met with the federal Minister for Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, and Western Australia had put on the table an offer of $156 million of cumulative funding in response to the offer made by the minister in April. Members may recall the minister’s press release, which stated, in part - “In addition, I made a separate and very generous offer to match their own funding for unmet need . . . “Only Western Australia, the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory responded positively . . . It was good news that the minister acknowledged that we had put an offer on the table. That offer was put on the table on 27 June and reaffirmed on 27 July. Subsequently, the federal minister and the Prime Minister put out a press release saying that $1.8 billion would be directly available to individuals, made up of three key components: help for older carers and their families; aid for children with disabilities; and money for respite care. On the face of it, it was all good news. Herein comes the rub, and it is very important that everybody listens to this. Western Australia put on the table an offer of $156 million that, if matched, would support more than 3 000 people in Western Australia whose needs are very significant, and whom we wish to support. As recently as last week we were informed, via the Australian Capital Territory, through commonwealth officials, that that matched funding was part of the $1.8 billion on the table. This must be of great concern to all members of this house. Never has the commonwealth minister indicated that the offer of matched funding was subject to the $1.8 billion. Never did that $1.8 billion have the capacity to fund the matched offer to the state. Indeed, the $1.8 billion has already been spent. As far as we know, this information is absolutely correct, and I hope the federal minister confirms that that is not the case. However, the intelligence we have is that the commonwealth officials have indicated to the ACT that its contribution and that of Western Australia must come out of the $1.8 billion. As far as I am concerned, that was never indicated by the commonwealth minister. The $1.8 billion has already been spent. It cannot be spent twice. All I can deduce from this is that it has been nothing more than pure political rhetoric from the commonwealth. Mr R.F. Johnson : Goodness me! Ms S.M. McHALE : I am glad the member for Hillarys agrees. This is pure political posturing on the part of the federal government. The matching funds are not there. The $1.8 billion that, in fact, was very little more than an effort to buy support with a one-off grant has already been spent, and has no capacity to fund the matching funding. We want a fair deal for people with disabilities. We have prepared and placed on the table an offer of $156 million cumulatively. We are giving a fair deal for people with disabilities and it is time the federal government also offered a fair deal. Clearly, Mr Howard and Minister Brough are not up to the job, and cannot deliver a fair deal for people with disabilities.
“Only Western Australia, the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory responded positively . . .
Herein comes the rub, and it is very important that everybody listens to this. Western Australia put on the table an offer of $156 million that, if matched, would support more than 3 000 people in Western Australia whose needs are very significant, and whom we wish to support. As recently as last week we were informed, via the Australian Capital Territory, through commonwealth officials, that that matched funding was part of the $1.8 billion on the table. This must be of great concern to all members of this house. Never has the commonwealth minister indicated that the offer of matched funding was subject to the $1.8 billion. Never did that $1.8 billion have the capacity to fund the matched offer to the state. Indeed, the $1.8 billion has already been spent. As far as we know, this information is absolutely correct, and I hope the federal minister confirms that that is not the case. However, the intelligence we have is that the commonwealth officials have indicated to the ACT that its contribution and that of Western Australia must come out of the $1.8 billion. As far as I am concerned, that was never indicated by the commonwealth minister. The $1.8 billion has already been spent. It cannot be spent twice. All I can deduce from this is that it has been nothing more than pure political rhetoric from the commonwealth. Mr R.F. Johnson : Goodness me! Ms S.M. McHALE : I am glad the member for Hillarys agrees. This is pure political posturing on the part of the federal government. The matching funds are not there. The $1.8 billion that, in fact, was very little more than an effort to buy support with a one-off grant has already been spent, and has no capacity to fund the matching funding. We want a fair deal for people with disabilities. We have prepared and placed on the table an offer of $156 million cumulatively. We are giving a fair deal for people with disabilities and it is time the federal government also offered a fair deal. Clearly, Mr Howard and Minister Brough are not up to the job, and cannot deliver a fair deal for people with disabilities.
Mr R.F. Johnson : Goodness me! Ms S.M. McHALE : I am glad the member for Hillarys agrees. This is pure political posturing on the part of the federal government. The matching funds are not there. The $1.8 billion that, in fact, was very little more than an effort to buy support with a one-off grant has already been spent, and has no capacity to fund the matching funding. We want a fair deal for people with disabilities. We have prepared and placed on the table an offer of $156 million cumulatively. We are giving a fair deal for people with disabilities and it is time the federal government also offered a fair deal. Clearly, Mr Howard and Minister Brough are not up to the job, and cannot deliver a fair deal for people with disabilities.
Ms S.M. McHALE : I am glad the member for Hillarys agrees. This is pure political posturing on the part of the federal government. The matching funds are not there. The $1.8 billion that, in fact, was very little more than an effort to buy support with a one-off grant has already been spent, and has no capacity to fund the matching funding. We want a fair deal for people with disabilities. We have prepared and placed on the table an offer of $156 million cumulatively. We are giving a fair deal for people with disabilities and it is time the federal government also offered a fair deal. Clearly, Mr Howard and Minister Brough are not up to the job, and cannot deliver a fair deal for people with disabilities.
We want a fair deal for people with disabilities. We have prepared and placed on the table an offer of $156 million cumulatively. We are giving a fair deal for people with disabilities and it is time the federal government also offered a fair deal. Clearly, Mr Howard and Minister Brough are not up to the job, and cannot deliver a fair deal for people with disabilities.
Ms S.M. McHALE replied: I thank the member for Southern River for his question. Two weeks ago I informed the house of the then current state of negotiations. We had met with the federal Minister for Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, and Western Australia had put on the table an offer of $156 million of cumulative funding in response to the offer made by the minister in April. Members may recall the minister’s press release, which stated, in part - “In addition, I made a separate and very generous offer to match their own funding for unmet need . . . “Only Western Australia, the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory responded positively . . . It was good news that the minister acknowledged that we had put an offer on the table. That offer was put on the table on 27 June and reaffirmed on 27 July. Subsequently, the federal minister and the Prime Minister put out a press release saying that $1.8 billion would be directly available to individuals, made up of three key components: help for older carers and their families; aid for children with disabilities; and money for respite care. On the face of it, it was all good news. Herein comes the rub, and it is very important that everybody listens to this. Western Australia put on the table an offer of $156 million that, if matched, would support more than 3 000 people in Western Australia whose needs are very significant, and whom we wish to support. As recently as last week we were informed, via the Australian Capital Territory, through commonwealth officials, that that matched funding was part of the $1.8 billion on the table. This must be of great concern to all members of this house. Never has the commonwealth minister indicated that the offer of matched funding was subject to the $1.8 billion. Never did that $1.8 billion have the capacity to fund the matched offer to the state. Indeed, the $1.8 billion has already been spent. As far as we know, this information is absolutely correct, and I hope the federal minister confirms that that is not the case. However, the intelligence we have is that the commonwealth officials have indicated to the ACT that its contribution and that of Western Australia must come out of the $1.8 billion. As far as I am concerned, that was never indicated by the commonwealth minister. The $1.8 billion has already been spent. It cannot be spent twice. All I can deduce from this is that it has been nothing more than pure political rhetoric from the commonwealth. Mr R.F. Johnson : Goodness me! Ms S.M. McHALE : I am glad the member for Hillarys agrees. This is pure political posturing on the part of the federal government. The matching funds are not there. The $1.8 billion that, in fact, was very little more than an effort to buy support with a one-off grant has already been spent, and has no capacity to fund the matching funding. We want a fair deal for people with disabilities. We have prepared and placed on the table an offer of $156 million cumulatively. We are giving a fair deal for people with disabilities and it is time the federal government also offered a fair deal. Clearly, Mr Howard and Minister Brough are not up to the job, and cannot deliver a fair deal for people with disabilities.
I thank the member for Southern River for his question. Two weeks ago I informed the house of the then current state of negotiations. We had met with the federal Minister for Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, and Western Australia had put on the table an offer of $156 million of cumulative funding in response to the offer made by the minister in April. Members may recall the minister’s press release, which stated, in part - “In addition, I made a separate and very generous offer to match their own funding for unmet need . . . “Only Western Australia, the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory responded positively . . . It was good news that the minister acknowledged that we had put an offer on the table. That offer was put on the table on 27 June and reaffirmed on 27 July. Subsequently, the federal minister and the Prime Minister put out a press release saying that $1.8 billion would be directly available to individuals, made up of three key components: help for older carers and their families; aid for children with disabilities; and money for respite care. On the face of it, it was all good news. Herein comes the rub, and it is very important that everybody listens to this. Western Australia put on the table an offer of $156 million that, if matched, would support more than 3 000 people in Western Australia whose needs are very significant, and whom we wish to support. As recently as last week we were informed, via the Australian Capital Territory, through commonwealth officials, that that matched funding was part of the $1.8 billion on the table. This must be of great concern to all members of this house. Never has the commonwealth minister indicated that the offer of matched funding was subject to the $1.8 billion. Never did that $1.8 billion have the capacity to fund the matched offer to the state. Indeed, the $1.8 billion has already been spent. As far as we know, this information is absolutely correct, and I hope the federal minister confirms that that is not the case. However, the intelligence we have is that the commonwealth officials have indicated to the ACT that its contribution and that of Western Australia must come out of the $1.8 billion. As far as I am concerned, that was never indicated by the commonwealth minister. The $1.8 billion has already been spent. It cannot be spent twice. All I can deduce from this is that it has been nothing more than pure political rhetoric from the commonwealth. Mr R.F. Johnson : Goodness me! Ms S.M. McHALE : I am glad the member for Hillarys agrees. This is pure political posturing on the part of the federal government. The matching funds are not there. The $1.8 billion that, in fact, was very little more than an effort to buy support with a one-off grant has already been spent, and has no capacity to fund the matching funding. We want a fair deal for people with disabilities. We have prepared and placed on the table an offer of $156 million cumulatively. We are giving a fair deal for people with disabilities and it is time the federal government also offered a fair deal. Clearly, Mr Howard and Minister Brough are not up to the job, and cannot deliver a fair deal for people with disabilities.
“Only Western Australia, the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory responded positively . . .
Herein comes the rub, and it is very important that everybody listens to this. Western Australia put on the table an offer of $156 million that, if matched, would support more than 3 000 people in Western Australia whose needs are very significant, and whom we wish to support. As recently as last week we were informed, via the Australian Capital Territory, through commonwealth officials, that that matched funding was part of the $1.8 billion on the table. This must be of great concern to all members of this house. Never has the commonwealth minister indicated that the offer of matched funding was subject to the $1.8 billion. Never did that $1.8 billion have the capacity to fund the matched offer to the state. Indeed, the $1.8 billion has already been spent. As far as we know, this information is absolutely correct, and I hope the federal minister confirms that that is not the case. However, the intelligence we have is that the commonwealth officials have indicated to the ACT that its contribution and that of Western Australia must come out of the $1.8 billion. As far as I am concerned, that was never indicated by the commonwealth minister. The $1.8 billion has already been spent. It cannot be spent twice. All I can deduce from this is that it has been nothing more than pure political rhetoric from the commonwealth. Mr R.F. Johnson : Goodness me! Ms S.M. McHALE : I am glad the member for Hillarys agrees. This is pure political posturing on the part of the federal government. The matching funds are not there. The $1.8 billion that, in fact, was very little more than an effort to buy support with a one-off grant has already been spent, and has no capacity to fund the matching funding. We want a fair deal for people with disabilities. We have prepared and placed on the table an offer of $156 million cumulatively. We are giving a fair deal for people with disabilities and it is time the federal government also offered a fair deal. Clearly, Mr Howard and Minister Brough are not up to the job, and cannot deliver a fair deal for people with disabilities.
Mr R.F. Johnson : Goodness me! Ms S.M. McHALE : I am glad the member for Hillarys agrees. This is pure political posturing on the part of the federal government. The matching funds are not there. The $1.8 billion that, in fact, was very little more than an effort to buy support with a one-off grant has already been spent, and has no capacity to fund the matching funding. We want a fair deal for people with disabilities. We have prepared and placed on the table an offer of $156 million cumulatively. We are giving a fair deal for people with disabilities and it is time the federal government also offered a fair deal. Clearly, Mr Howard and Minister Brough are not up to the job, and cannot deliver a fair deal for people with disabilities.
Ms S.M. McHALE : I am glad the member for Hillarys agrees. This is pure political posturing on the part of the federal government. The matching funds are not there. The $1.8 billion that, in fact, was very little more than an effort to buy support with a one-off grant has already been spent, and has no capacity to fund the matching funding. We want a fair deal for people with disabilities. We have prepared and placed on the table an offer of $156 million cumulatively. We are giving a fair deal for people with disabilities and it is time the federal government also offered a fair deal. Clearly, Mr Howard and Minister Brough are not up to the job, and cannot deliver a fair deal for people with disabilities.
We want a fair deal for people with disabilities. We have prepared and placed on the table an offer of $156 million cumulatively. We are giving a fair deal for people with disabilities and it is time the federal government also offered a fair deal. Clearly, Mr Howard and Minister Brough are not up to the job, and cannot deliver a fair deal for people with disabilities.
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