House of Assembly Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1) 52 1 Parliament of South Australia House of Assembly published Question Time Financial Counselling Services FINANCIAL COUNSELLING SERVICES Ms CHAPMAN House of Assembly Bragg FINANCIAL COUNSELLING SERVICES Ms CHAPMAN (Bragg) (15:07): My question is to the Minister for Families and Communities. Does the minister agree with her colleague, the member for Croydon, that cuts to financial counselling services are to stop people from double dipping and triple dipping? The Hon. J.M. RANKINE House of Assembly Wright Minister for Families and Communities Minister for Housing Minister for Ageing Minister for Disability FINANCIAL COUNSELLING SERVICES The Hon. J.M. RANKINE (Wright—Minister for Families and Communities, Minister for Housing, Minister for Ageing, Minister for Disability) (15:07): We have brought about some reform in our Families SA— Ms Chapman interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order! The Hon. J.M. RANKINE House of Assembly The Hon. J.M. RANKINE: Let me get more than three words out, will you? Thank you. Ms Chapman interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Member for Bragg, behave! The Hon. J.M. RANKINE House of Assembly The Hon. J.M. RANKINE: Silence is golden—sometimes. Except when you are silent; we know when you were silent what it did. Members interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order! Minister, return to the answer. The member for Finniss will behave also. The Hon. J.M. RANKINE House of Assembly The Hon. J.M. RANKINE: We have thought about some reform in the Families SA Anti-Poverty Unit. What we have done is provide the money that has been going to people who are not clients of Families SA but need financial support. We have provided that to non-government organisations to distribute throughout South Australia. There are some places where Families SA will continue to do that but, in the main, that is going to the non-government sector. In relation to family counselling, we had about 100 people in the department who were, as a small part of their role, doing financial counselling services. That equated, throughout these 100 employees, to about one financial counselling service per week. Many of those, again, were for clients who were not Families SA clients. So, we are in the process of arranging a contract, again, with a non-government organisation to provide those financial counselling services around South Australia. Ms CHAPMAN House of Assembly Ms CHAPMAN: Point of order. The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order! Point of order. Member for Bragg. Ms CHAPMAN House of Assembly Ms CHAPMAN: I think that I have listened patiently enough to all the same dribble— Members interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order! Ms CHAPMAN House of Assembly Ms CHAPMAN: —that we heard in estimates—all the same absolute dribble that was totally rejected at estimates. Members interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order! Ms CHAPMAN House of Assembly Ms CHAPMAN: The very clear question to this minister was: does she agree that this exercise is double dipping or triple dripping? The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order! Member for Bragg, thank you for that, but the minister can answer the question as she chooses, and she is, I am sure, going to get to the end of the point soon. The Hon. J.M. RANKINE House of Assembly The Hon. J.M. RANKINE: Well, we know where the dribble is. We had a situation when people could go to Families SA offices or a range of non-government organisations to get financial support—circumstances where people could actually double dip, that is— Ms Chapman interjecting: The Hon. J.M. RANKINE House of Assembly The Hon. J.M. RANKINE: People were going to— Ms Chapman House of Assembly Ms Chapman: You agree with this? The Hon. J.M. RANKINE House of Assembly The Hon. J.M. RANKINE: Will you shut up and listen? Just listen. You don't listen. Members interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order! Members interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order! Members will sit down. The minister will sit down. We will stop shouting at each other across the floor. It is not on. Did you have a point of order, deputy leader, or have I just made that point? Mr WILLIAMS House of Assembly Mr WILLIAMS: Madam Speaker, I am sure that the language used by the minister is unparliamentary. The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: I do not think it is unparliamentary to call to someone to shut up when they are shouting across the floor. If you shout across the floor you will be told. Minister, return back to the substance of the question. The Hon. J.M. RANKINE House of Assembly The Hon. J.M. RANKINE: Thank you, Madam Speaker. The empty can does make the most noise, as my mum used to say. Members interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order! Mr Pengilly House of Assembly Mr Pengilly: You're worse than Ann Bressington. The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order! The Hon. J.M. RANKINE House of Assembly The Hon. J.M. RANKINE: There are two issues: there is the financial support; and there are the financial counsellors. There were circumstances in relation to financial support where we believed that people could have been double dipping. According to the quote read out by the member for Bragg, the member for Croydon talked about double dipping of financial counselling services. I think he got mixed up. Members interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Norwood. Members interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Norwood.