Alex Hawke (Mitchell, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you for that answer, Minister. I wonder whether the minister has a view on funding formulas in relation to the socioeconomic status models which are given to local government for federal government funding and whether they are effective in implementing outcomes in relation to the Human Services portfolio. Much money allocated to councils ends up being spent on migration resource centres or other forms of human service related activity by councils. The Hills Shire Council area, which is a large and populous council next to the Blacktown City Council, covers my electorate of Mitchell and fares very poorly under current funding models for socioeconomic status, which relate to the indicators within those regions. Therefore, you tend to get these outcomes that are inequitable in the way they treat large bodies of the population. We tend to have the same set of disadvantages or problems. They are hidden behind high socioeconomic indicators, but the same problems are there. Does the minister have a view in relation to the funding models that are issued to council in relation to federal government money? Council and local government areas tend to provide a range of human service measures which save the federal government money.

See this speech in context