Ms ROSOL (Bass) – Honourable Speaker, the stadium is sucking air out of every other important issue in Tasmania right now. It is also sucking the money out of so many services in our state as the government try to scrabble together the dollars to fund a stadium we do not need and cannot afford.
In my role as Greens spokesperson for a range of portfolios, including health and mental health, community services and children and youth, I meet with many organisations, not‑for‑profits and peak bodies. They all share the same message with me. The demand for their support is growing but the funding available to them is not growing, and they are struggling to meet the need with the funding they have.
On top of that, many organisations are in limbo as we await the budget. They have no certainty that they will even be able to continue to provide programs and services, because in less than two months’ time their funding runs out and they do not know if it will be renewed in the budget. Organisations find themselves in the difficult position of being unable to plan ahead, so they are working on worst‑case scenarios of losing funding and winding down services.
An example of this is the Choices mental health program operated by BaptCare. Choices provides wraparound psychosocial support to people in both their men’s and women’s shelters. They were initially only funded for the men’s shelter, but at the government’s request they extended the service to the women’s shelter. Baptcare received top‑up funding to do this, but that funding runs out at the end of June and they have no current certainties. They are having to plan for cutting a service the government has asked for and relied on them to provide. I urge the government to both provide the funding for the continuation of this service and to have the decency to communicate this to BaptCare.
Another example is the local advocacy groups operated by Health Consumers Tasmania for around five years. These groups have enabled local decision‑making in relation to the funding of health interventions and services in local communities. Without a renewal of funding, these groups will cease and local communities will lose their voice, having a detrimental impact on health outcomes. Again, I urge the government to commit to ongoing funding of these local advocacy groups and to advise Health Consumers Tasmania of this now, not on budget day. This communication would be a mark of respect for service providers and is essential to continuity of service.
I want to turn to today’s report in the Mercury, where CPSU revealed that the Multi‑Systemic Therapy, or MST program, is no longer available in the north and north-west of the state. This program provides evidence-based support to young people with serious or escalating antisocial and problematic behaviour, the very behaviour that has been in the news of late. The program has been closed in the north since November and we understand it has also ceased to operate in the south since March.
This morning, the Premier gave a very slippery answer when asked about this by the member for Franklin. The Premier stated the government supports MST and are working on developing new evidence-based youth forensic mental health services. He also stated the number of young people who had been through the program since 2022. None of those statements provided confirmation that the service is being provided or that it will continue. It seems MST is not operating and may well not operate in the future, since youth forensic mental health services are not the same thing. This is despite MST being a proven program that addresses the youth crime we are currently experiencing in parts of the state.
A question for the Minister for Children and Youth in relation to this is: how much did the licence for the MST program cost and will MST be continued given the desperate need we have for services that support young people and help them change their behaviour and avoid engagement with the youth justice system. The Greens will continue to pursue these questions.
We have many wonderful services and providers in this state and they give invaluable support to Tasmanians. The Greens call on the government to treat service providers with the decency they deserve, to fund them adequately and provide certainty through timely communication. They deserve to be treated with respect and to be funded, and so do all Tasmanians who rely on this service.
