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Legislative Council - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2012-10-31 Daily Xml
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SAME-SEX YOUTH SERVICES

The Hon. T.A. FRANKS (14:53): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Youth a question about the Inside Out and Evolve programs for same-sex attracted youth.

Leave granted.

The Hon. T.A. FRANKS: As the minister is keenly aware, suicide is a major issue for same-sex attracted youth. In fact, according to Suicide Prevention Australia 38 per cent of gay people have experienced discrimination, 50 per cent have experienced verbal abuse and, shockingly, 74 per cent of this abuse has happened while they were at school. It is little wonder then that about 30 per cent of Australia's same-sex attracted teenagers will attempt suicide, and it is estimated that as much as 30 per cent of completed youth suicides are completed by same-sex attracted youth. In fact, gay teens are 14 times more likely to attempt suicide than their straight peers.

Given these concerning statistics, I note that I have previously asked questions in this place of the Minister for Health and Ageing about the Inside Out and Evolve programs: I first asked in 2011 on 17 May, then again on 4 April 2012, and then again on 17 May (which happens to be IDAHO Day, the International Day against Homophobia) in 2012.

In 2012, I actually got an answer to my questions. It was a one-paragraph answer to my questions, which had specifically asked whether or not the Inside Out and Evolve programs would continue to offer both peer education and ongoing group work. I received the following answer from the Minister for Health and Ageing:

I can reassure the honourable member that the Inside Out and Evolve projects for same sex attracted and gender questioning young people will continue to be provided and funded to the same level by The Second Story youth health service.

This, of course, was not an answer to my question of whether or not peer education and group work would continue. I draw the Minister for Youth's attention to the fact that, while it is purported that the Inside Out and Evolve groups continue to be run, I have recently been approached by a young man who identifies as same-sex attracted and who also has a physical disability and significant barriers to mobility. He certainly has some grave concerns.

He recently tried to attend the Inside Out group information session advertised by The Second Story as being held on Thursday 13 September between 6pm and 8pm. He turned up to that a few minutes late to find that there was no-one there—there was no Second Story worker, and there was no sign indicating that perhaps the group had been postponed or cancelled. Certainly, in the advertising it says that refreshments would be provided, but there was no sign of that.

He has concerns as to whether or not there is a serious commitment to supporting the Inside Out and Evolve groups, and I certainly share those concerns, given his experience. He has also indicated to me that it was groups like this and their availability that, in fact, had saved his life. To paraphrase his own words, services like this have saved his life. Yet, at the moment, he believes—and I think he speaks for many other young people—that there is no serious commitment by Second Story to same-sex attracted youth.

I draw the minister's attention to the fact that this was offered on a Thursday night for a target group that is quite young. Also, I understand that previous groups had been offered on Tuesday nights, which are, in colloquial terms, school nights. Same-sex attracted youth, perhaps not wanting to tell their parents or peers where they were going, would prefer the traditional night, Friday night, that same-sex services group nights had been offered. Given all of this, I ask the Minister for Youth:

1. What literature supports the conduct of groups aimed at a cohort living either at home with parents or of school age to be offered on a school night, be that a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday, rather than a Friday night or a weekend, where they have more ability to attend them?

2. How many Inside Out and Evolve groups have been conducted in the past year for same-sex attracted youth? How many young people have attended these groups and for what duration: how many hours, how many individual contacts and how many repeat attendances?

3. What services does this government provide with a specific focus on lowering incidence of self-harm and suicide for LGBTIQ youth?

4. What government funding goes to NGOs which provide this same service?

5. Does this government continue to receive funding from another body to run these same-sex attracted services—in fact, I think that the level of state government funding is irrelevant to the question—and are they acquitting adequately that funding to the funding body for these same-sex attracted youth services currently?

The PRESIDENT: Minister, you have only 20 minutes to answer!

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (Minister for Communities and Social Inclusion, Minister for Social Housing, Minister for Disabilities, Minister for Youth, Minister for Volunteers) (14:59): I shan't take quite all that time. I thank the honourable member for her very important questions and, indeed, for her persistent questioning on this topic of Inside Out and Second Story. I think that in my notations I recorded about nine separate questions in her explanation and then questions. I will take those questions to the Minister for Health and Ageing in another place and seek a response on her behalf.

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