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Parliamentary Questions


Question Without Notice No. 373 asked in the Legislative Council on 14 June 2012 by Hon Lynn Maclaren

Parliament: 38 Session: 1

BUSTER THE FUN BUS — FUNDING

373. Hon LYNN MacLAREN to the Minister for Community Services:

(1) Has the popular Buster the Fun Bus program for children in Fremantle and Melville been funded this year?

(2) How much funding did the department provide to this program in previous years?

(3) Is the minister aware that the program is expected to cease in September this year and that parents held a rally at the Fremantle Arts Centre yesterday to save the program?

(4) Why was funding not provided this year?

(5) Will the department meet with representatives of the City of Fremantle, which is seeking to restore this funding?

Hon PETER COLLIER replied:

On behalf of the Minister for Community Services, I thank the honourable member for some notice of this question.

(1) Yes.

(2) Since the establishment of the Department for Communities, the service has received the following funding: in 2007–08, $55 639; in 2008–09, $56 713; in 2009–10, $58 441; in 2010–11, $60 749; and in 2011–12, $63 179.

(3) Yes.

(4) Funding was provided in 2011–12 and for the first quarter of the 2012–13 financial year. In developing new, longer term funding agreements with service providers, the Department for Communities has been working with all providers to develop new service requirements and outcomes for its parenting program in line with the department's strategic directions and priorities. The agreed outcomes for the department's parenting program area are for the provision of information, assistance and support for parents. Along with other providers, the City of Fremantle was invited to submit a proposal for future funding to deliver a parenting service. The City of Fremantle's submission and proposed model of service falls outside the agreed service outcomes.

(5) Representatives from the Department for Communities have been in liaison with the City of Fremantle regarding this issue. Both the department and the city are working to ensure affected families are able to transition to the more than 40 alternative playgroup services operating within a 10-kilometre radius of the Fremantle area.