(19k)Transcript
16 September 2009
Speech and Doorstop, Family Relationship Centre, Woden
E&OE PROOF ONLY
SUBJECTS: Launch of ‘My family is separating – what now? online tool, Child Support Agency.
CHRIS BOWEN: Thanks very much Sue. I’m very pleased to be here and I acknowledge the traditional owners of the land, the Ngunnawal people.
I’m very pleased to be here to lend my support to this very worthwhile initiative, this new website.
Now, the mark of a good society is how we help those doing it tough, those who are going through a rough patch. In a modern society, a big cause of those doing it tough is the breakdown of a marriage. There are 50,000 divorces each year in Australia and importantly 44,000 children are affected each year by separation.
Of course, no government, no organisation can take away the pain of a marriage breakdown or can take away the despair of being separated from their children – none of us can do that.
What we can do, is in our own way make things just a little easier, and make things a little simpler for people at the margins going through that very traumatic period in their life – for most people, the most traumatic period they will face in their life. For many people going through a marriage breakdown, whether they are parents or children, they face the question, “Where do I turn?” and “Where can I go?” From now, in a small way, the answer is this website.
People wanting to know where they can get emotional support, family violence support, financial support or legal support. This website is in many ways, although the term is overused, this website genuinely is a ‘one-stop shop’ in terms of where to go for referral for those services that governments and non government organisations, community and quasi government organisations give to people in that very difficult situation.
It can be a complex maze – the breakdown of a family, sorting your way through the legal system, the Child Support system - while you’re dealing with the most confronting emotional trauma you’re likely to ever face during your life. This website, together with other government services – and here we are at the Family Relationship Service, is designed to make that as I say, just a little easier.
So can I thank everyone who’s been involved in my own Department of Human Services, and the Child Support Agency. A service like this doesn’t happen without cross-government involvement and particularly, the Department of the Attorney General needs to be acknowledged; and also our partners in service delivery – the Family Relationship Service of Australia – I acknowledge Samantha Page, the members of the national Child Support Stakeholder Engagement group, I know you’re meeting after this and thank you to all of you who have been involved and consulted about what should be on this website and everyone else who has been involved in ways big and small in putting this project together.
There is of course, as you can see, a feedback icon where we are seeking your input as to whether this page meets your needs and I’m sure that there’ll be changes over a period of time as people provide their feedback about what was useful, what could be more useful and what extra services can be provided and that’s a very important thing and again we will need your help in putting that together.
So thanks for being here this morning to lend your support to this initiative, a worthwhile, modest but important initiative to help people deal with those issues that can be so confronting as we work our way through life. I look forward to working with each of you to improve services that we provide to you and the services we provide together to people who are facing separation and dealing with changing circumstances in their life which is so important and such a focus for the Child Support program and for all of you in this room.
Thank you very much.
(Afterwards)
JOURNALIST: Can you let us know a bit more about the new online tool?
BOWEN: This is a very important tool, it’s a one-stop shop for people going through the trauma of family separation and marriage breakdown; it does provide referrals to services that are available to parents both mums and dads, children and grandchildren with how to cope with this very traumatic episode in life; what government and non government services are available and what referrals are appropriate for people going through this episode in life.
JOURNALIST: What was the impetus in putting together this service?
BOWEN: Well the government is particularly keen to have a seamless approach to service delivery, we’re particularly keen to have people not having to go from agency to agency, website to website to figure out where support is, to have one portal, one place of entry to find out what assistance can be given, that’s what this website does.
JOURNALIST: And obviously with the changing technology is that keeping up?
BOWEN: Absolutely, we need to constantly be monitoring technological tools that we use and of course, in this day and age, websites are first and foremost and this is another example of that.
JOURNALIST: Are you getting feedback from the electorate that people were struggling under the circumstances when their families were breaking up to find the information they need.
BOWEN: Yeah, when you go through a family break down it is the most traumatic episode you face in your life. The website or any other service isn’t going to change that but what we can do is make that service delivery, those services available that little bit more simple to navigate, a little simpler to find and provide those services therefore quicker and easier to people who need it most.
JOURNALIST: I guess this might be useful to people who are kind of isolated were services aren’t quite so readily available face to face.
BOWEN: That is particularly the case, people in rural and remote areas do have trouble accessing services that the rest of us do take for granted and this website will make that little bit easier for those people in that situation.
JOURNALIST: is it useful for mum the dad and the children?
BOWEN: Yes, there are different pages on this website for mum, dad, children and grand parents dealing with the trauma of a family breakdown.
Ends
Note
- To view PDF documents you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader.