Tuesday, 21 June 2022

GenWest

Mr FINN (Western Metropolitan) (19:05): (1991) I wish to raise a matter for the attention of the Minister for Prevention of Family Violence, and this is a matter that I previously raised with the Minister for Health on 6 April when I asked him to ensure that GenWest, which was formerly Women’s Health West, was provided with the necessary funds to fight family violence in the western suburbs. I asked him to ensure that the money was provided in the budget. Today I got a response from the health minister, who said to me:

As this matter relates to the portfolio of Prevention of Family Violence, this question should be directed to Gabrielle Williams MP …

In other words, Mr Foley says, ‘It’s not my job’. That is what he says: ‘It’s not my job’. He has done a ScoMo. Perhaps the Liberals will run that at the next election as an ad: ‘It’s not my job’—just a thought. Anyway, I would like the Minister for Prevention of Family Violence to ensure that GenWest does have adequate resources to do the job that it is supposed to do. It is so under-resourced, it is so overworked, there is so much demand and it is really struggling, and for the health minister to say ‘It’s not my job’ is just not good enough. What the hell is his job if it is not to provide a health service with the necessary funds for it to do its job? It is just an extraordinary thing, but that is what we would expect from the health minister.

I am asking the Minister for Prevention of Family Violence to get on top of this because family violence is a particularly heinous issue in the western suburbs. In many parts of the west it is totally out of control, and there are thousands—thousands—of people who require assistance. We are not talking about something that can wait until next week; these people want help tonight. They want it tonight. They wanted it last week or the week before—or before Martin Foley found out that it was not his responsibility and it was not his job. They need that support, they need that help, and I am asking the Minister for Prevention of Family Violence to do the job that we require of her—to provide the support that GenWest needs to help these, largely, women and children who are struggling under the yoke of family violence. I ask the minister to do that, and I ask her to do it as a matter of urgency. As I say, this is something that we need tonight. There are people who are sleeping in cars—women and children—tonight because they have nowhere else to go in the western suburbs. I ask the minister to provide the necessary funding for GenWest to allow it to get on and do the job.