❓ Ms Saffioti questions the Premier regarding the closure of the LEARN Foundation for Autism centre and the alternative arrangements for affected families. The Premier's response is defensive, focusing on perceived political opportunism from the opposition.
AnsweredQoN 244Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
LEARN
FOUNDATION FOR AUTISM CENTRE — CLOSURE
244. Ms R. SAFFIOTI to the Premier:
I refer to the closure of the LEARN Foundation for Autism centre
in Fremantle, and the Minister for Disability Services' commitment last
Wednesday on the steps of Parliament House, when she said to parents that if
she could not make it happen that day, it would be the next day. She also said
that the families involved would not be left in the lurch and that they would
be given transition programs with other organisations.
(1) Can the Premier confirm that
many parents have not been offered an alternative place?
(2) Can the
Premier confirm that the Disability Services Commission has told these parents
that it is very difficult to find alternative arrangements?
(3) What
alternative arrangements have been put in place for parents such as Peter and
Frances Kennedy, whose son has no alternative arrangement at this point?
FOUNDATION FOR AUTISM CENTRE — CLOSURE
244. Ms R. SAFFIOTI to the Premier:
I refer to the closure of the LEARN Foundation for Autism centre
in Fremantle, and the Minister for Disability Services' commitment last
Wednesday on the steps of Parliament House, when she said to parents that if
she could not make it happen that day, it would be the next day. She also said
that the families involved would not be left in the lurch and that they would
be given transition programs with other organisations.
(1) Can the Premier confirm that
many parents have not been offered an alternative place?
(2) Can the
Premier confirm that the Disability Services Commission has told these parents
that it is very difficult to find alternative arrangements?
(3) What
alternative arrangements have been put in place for parents such as Peter and
Frances Kennedy, whose son has no alternative arrangement at this point?
AnswerView source ↗
(1)–(3) This
is a very unfortunate, almost sad I suppose, issue for the children who
attended programs at the LEARN centre, particularly for their parents, some of
whom I understand had prepaid for programs, and then, without any knowledge or
prior notice to them or indeed the state government, the centre was closed.
Last week we saw the opposition taking up the cause. Did it do it genuinely to
help the parents or the children or did it do it to try to gain a political
advantage?
Several members interjected.
Mr
C.J. BARNETT : I suggest it was the latter.
Point of Order
Ms R. SAFFIOTI : My question was:
what is the government doing to help these children today? That is the question
and I ask the Premier to address the question.
The SPEAKER : It is not a point
of order, member, but I am sure the Premier is going to return to the question.
Questions without Notice Resumed
Mr
C.J. BARNETT : The point I make is that the opposition, in particular the
Leader of the Opposition, sought to gain political advantage without doing any
check or any homework at all.
Mr
D.A. Templeman : If we hadn't raised it, you would have known
nothing about it. What the opposition should do is raise issues in this place.
The
SPEAKER : Member for Mandurah, I call you for the first, second and third
times today.
Mr
P. Papalia interjected.
The
SPEAKER : Member for Warnbro, I call you to order for the first time today.
Premier, I am going to instruct you to return to the question asked by the
member for West Swan.
Mr
C.J. BARNETT : Certainly, Mr Speaker. I conclude that comment by simply
saying it was shallow and opportunistic and the Leader of the Opposition failed
to do the homework. Understandably, the parents were angry at the state
government because one way or another they were led to believe that the state
government was at fault. The reality is—this has come out over
subsequent days—that there were serious issues about management or,
should I say, mismanagement. There was a very substantial unpaid pay-as-you-go
tax bill. In other words, the organisation had deducted —
Several members interjected.
Mr
C.J. BARNETT : Listen to this, because you did not do the homework.
Mr P.C. Tinley :
You were judge and jury.
The
SPEAKER : Member for Willagee, I formally call you to order for the first
time today. Member for Joondalup, I formally call you to order for the third
time today.
Mr C.J. BARNETT :
Think for a moment what that meant. Tax was being deducted from people's
wages and not being passed on to the Australian Taxation Office. It was being
used for other purposes.
Point of Order
Mrs M.H. ROBERTS : Mr Speaker,
you have directed the Premier to actually answer the question. He is still
failing to do so and I ask that you ask him to do so again.
Questions without Notice Resumed
Mr
C.J. BARNETT : I am placing into sharp contrast the way in which the Labor
Party approached the issue and the way in which this government and the
minister approached the issue.
Mr P. Papalia : I
have two emails I received this morning.
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER :
Premier, I expect you to answer the question. I am going to give the
opportunity to the member for West Swan to ask a supplementary. I do not have
any expectation at all of anyone else—anyone else—on either
side of this place continually interjecting, whatever their opinion might be.
Mr
C.J. BARNETT : Since the events last Wednesday, the responsible minister,
Hon Helen Morton, indicated that she and the Disability Services Commission
would do all they could to help those children and their parents. To this
point, the latest advice I have had is that the Disability Services Commission
has been in direct contact with 23 families about providing programs for their
children. That is pretty good, given this was a private organisation, given it
was not receiving funding from the Disability Services Commission, and given it
had declined to go through a proper pre-qualification process—unlike
115 other organisations.
Mrs M.H. Roberts interjected.
The SPEAKER :
Member for Midland.
Mr C.J. BARNETT :
Twenty-three —
Mrs M.H. Roberts :
Do they have a place?
Mr C.J. BARNETT :
It is not your question.
The SPEAKER :
Member for Midland, I formally call you to order for the first time today. I
think everyone in this place wants a fair and reasonable answer to the question
asked. Interjections do not help, members.
Mr C.J. BARNETT :
It is my understanding that this program is for mainly school-age children—young
children, but school-age children—receiving services delivered through
the education department, principally; I understand that some parents, quite
rightly, had education assistants provided for their children. These were
programs that the parents, for the best of motives, were funding themselves to
a private organisation beyond what was provided through our school system, through
our health services, and through the Disability Services Commission. I can
understand why they would do that, and I can understand their grief and their
despair when the doors were shut as they turned up with their children. For
whatever reason, the management of the organisation, LEARN Foundation for
Autism, tried to immediately shift the blame or responsibility from itself onto
a state government that was not in any formal arrangement with LEARN but had
tried to assist over the years, and the Labor Party got on board and tried to
blame the government. The answer to the Member for West Swan's question
—
Mr P.B. Watson :
Ten minutes later.
Mr C.J. BARNETT :
No, because the opposition needs to understand how badly and how shallow it was
last week, and the community saw straight through it. On this point, Member for
West Swan, the opposition was so shallow, it was so conceited, and it was so
wrong!
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER : I am
going to give a supplementary question to the Member for West Swan.
is a very unfortunate, almost sad I suppose, issue for the children who
attended programs at the LEARN centre, particularly for their parents, some of
whom I understand had prepaid for programs, and then, without any knowledge or
prior notice to them or indeed the state government, the centre was closed.
Last week we saw the opposition taking up the cause. Did it do it genuinely to
help the parents or the children or did it do it to try to gain a political
advantage?
Several members interjected.
Mr
C.J. BARNETT : I suggest it was the latter.
Point of Order
Ms R. SAFFIOTI : My question was:
what is the government doing to help these children today? That is the question
and I ask the Premier to address the question.
The SPEAKER : It is not a point
of order, member, but I am sure the Premier is going to return to the question.
Questions without Notice Resumed
Mr
C.J. BARNETT : The point I make is that the opposition, in particular the
Leader of the Opposition, sought to gain political advantage without doing any
check or any homework at all.
Mr
D.A. Templeman : If we hadn't raised it, you would have known
nothing about it. What the opposition should do is raise issues in this place.
The
SPEAKER : Member for Mandurah, I call you for the first, second and third
times today.
Mr
P. Papalia interjected.
The
SPEAKER : Member for Warnbro, I call you to order for the first time today.
Premier, I am going to instruct you to return to the question asked by the
member for West Swan.
Mr
C.J. BARNETT : Certainly, Mr Speaker. I conclude that comment by simply
saying it was shallow and opportunistic and the Leader of the Opposition failed
to do the homework. Understandably, the parents were angry at the state
government because one way or another they were led to believe that the state
government was at fault. The reality is—this has come out over
subsequent days—that there were serious issues about management or,
should I say, mismanagement. There was a very substantial unpaid pay-as-you-go
tax bill. In other words, the organisation had deducted —
Several members interjected.
Mr
C.J. BARNETT : Listen to this, because you did not do the homework.
Mr P.C. Tinley :
You were judge and jury.
The
SPEAKER : Member for Willagee, I formally call you to order for the first
time today. Member for Joondalup, I formally call you to order for the third
time today.
Mr C.J. BARNETT :
Think for a moment what that meant. Tax was being deducted from people's
wages and not being passed on to the Australian Taxation Office. It was being
used for other purposes.
Point of Order
Mrs M.H. ROBERTS : Mr Speaker,
you have directed the Premier to actually answer the question. He is still
failing to do so and I ask that you ask him to do so again.
Questions without Notice Resumed
Mr
C.J. BARNETT : I am placing into sharp contrast the way in which the Labor
Party approached the issue and the way in which this government and the
minister approached the issue.
Mr P. Papalia : I
have two emails I received this morning.
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER :
Premier, I expect you to answer the question. I am going to give the
opportunity to the member for West Swan to ask a supplementary. I do not have
any expectation at all of anyone else—anyone else—on either
side of this place continually interjecting, whatever their opinion might be.
Mr
C.J. BARNETT : Since the events last Wednesday, the responsible minister,
Hon Helen Morton, indicated that she and the Disability Services Commission
would do all they could to help those children and their parents. To this
point, the latest advice I have had is that the Disability Services Commission
has been in direct contact with 23 families about providing programs for their
children. That is pretty good, given this was a private organisation, given it
was not receiving funding from the Disability Services Commission, and given it
had declined to go through a proper pre-qualification process—unlike
115 other organisations.
Mrs M.H. Roberts interjected.
The SPEAKER :
Member for Midland.
Mr C.J. BARNETT :
Twenty-three —
Mrs M.H. Roberts :
Do they have a place?
Mr C.J. BARNETT :
It is not your question.
The SPEAKER :
Member for Midland, I formally call you to order for the first time today. I
think everyone in this place wants a fair and reasonable answer to the question
asked. Interjections do not help, members.
Mr C.J. BARNETT :
It is my understanding that this program is for mainly school-age children—young
children, but school-age children—receiving services delivered through
the education department, principally; I understand that some parents, quite
rightly, had education assistants provided for their children. These were
programs that the parents, for the best of motives, were funding themselves to
a private organisation beyond what was provided through our school system, through
our health services, and through the Disability Services Commission. I can
understand why they would do that, and I can understand their grief and their
despair when the doors were shut as they turned up with their children. For
whatever reason, the management of the organisation, LEARN Foundation for
Autism, tried to immediately shift the blame or responsibility from itself onto
a state government that was not in any formal arrangement with LEARN but had
tried to assist over the years, and the Labor Party got on board and tried to
blame the government. The answer to the Member for West Swan's question
—
Mr P.B. Watson :
Ten minutes later.
Mr C.J. BARNETT :
No, because the opposition needs to understand how badly and how shallow it was
last week, and the community saw straight through it. On this point, Member for
West Swan, the opposition was so shallow, it was so conceited, and it was so
wrong!
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER : I am
going to give a supplementary question to the Member for West Swan.
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