Mr JENKINS(5.38 p.m.) —Tomorrow sees the closure of the Whittlesea Plenty Valley Family Resource Centre.

Mr Latham —Shame.

Mr JENKINS —I agree with the honourable member for Werriwa that it is a very shameful act. It arises from a very mean spirited decision in this year's budget which came under the innocuous heading `Broadbanding of family services'. It went on to state:

Savings will be achieved by refocusing some projects and programs from 1 January 1998.

It will make savings of $3 million in 1997-98 and $6.4 million in 1998-99. Nowhere did it directly say that what this meant was that the 11 family resource centres throughout Australia would have to close.

I am proud to be associated with the family resource centre which has operated in my electorate. I am proud that I can say that I was there and chaired the first public meeting to get it on the road. I am proud that an organisation such as the Brotherhood of St Laurence was the interim sponsor. I am proud that an able group of local people came together to be the committee of management. I am proud of the work that was done by the family resource centre. I wish all those who previously worked for the family resource centre all the best in their futures. I wish Michael Gourlay, who has managed the program since its inception, all the best in his future career.

I regret that we have come to this outcome. I regret that we, here today, have to talk about what is going to be a devastating blow for the many organisations and families that have gained some benefit from this family resource centre. The community, post the budget decision, has acted responsibly. They have not only continued a campaign to try to have this decision reversed but also looked at ways they can maximise ongoing benefit from the years that we have had the family resource centre.

Family resource centres were first mentioned in the Governor-General's speech in May 1990. The Whittlesea Plenty Valley FRC was opened in September 1992 and has successfully operated since then. In response to the budget this year, I organised a meeting of those interested and formed a group called Friends of the FRC.

I will read a number of the organisations that were represented on Friends of the FRC. They include organisations such as: Lalor Living & Learning Centre; North Eastern Health Care Network Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services; Bitola Macedonian Senior Citizens Group; Whittlesea Northern Cypriot Women's Group; Thomastown Greek Elderly Citizens Group; Whittlesea Maltese Senior Citizens Group; YMCA—Mill Park Leisure Centre; CD Counselling Services; Women's Health in the North; Children's Protection Society; Happy Faces Child Care Centre; Kildonan Child and Family Services; Plenty Community Credit Union; Anglicare Plenty Valley (St John's) Care Force; Northern Melbourne Institute of TAFE; Home Tutor Scheme; RMIT Social Work; and Community Information Whittlesea.

They are a number of the organisations which thought it important to come together to try to have the decision reversed. They are only a sample of the literally hundreds of groups that were helped by the family resource centre. In the letter that I received from the then Minister for Family Services she alleged that one of the reasons that the program was to be finalised was that it had completed its task. I can assure you that in my electorate the family resource centre is a continuing, well needed resource. The fact is that the family resource centre had set out a strategic plan and it had developed a community needs project to see what it could continue to do.

I really wonder what this government thinks it is doing. It artificially thinks that by saving paltry amounts of money it is really working to the community's good. I put to the government that for the money that was spent on the family resource centres in my area there was a multiplier effect that cannot be estimated. It cannot be thrown aside.

Each of the groups was assisted, had training for their committees of management or was able to use the volunteer register that was put together. We cannot just look at these things in dollar and cents terms, the bottom line, and take it out of the budget. What we have to look at is outcomes. If this government is really on about expending money in the most efficient way and getting the best results, it should not repeat decisions like this to close down the family resource centre program. (Time expired)