Parentline
Sarah MANSFIELD (Western Victoria) (12:12): (990) My question is for the Minister for Children. Last week I was made aware of reports that your government would no longer be funding the Parentline service, thereby forcing it to close its doors. Parentline has an annual budget of $1.3 million, a very small funding pool compared to its impact. The confidential service provides telephone counselling to parents on any issue they may be encountering, and it is the only service of its kind in Victoria. Only recently its value to parents was highlighted when, whilst not promoted as a first-line response, parents inevitably reached out to the service for support in the wake of the recent childcare abuse allegations. Minister, what is your justification for removing this universal best practice service from families?
Lizzie BLANDTHORN (Western Metropolitan – Minister for Children, Minister for Disability) (12:12): I thank Dr Mansfield for her question. At the outset I confirm for the house that our government is absolutely committed to supporting parents and carers through their parenting journey, and we do that in a number of ways. Parentline has been an important service. But it is important to consider that Parentline was set up in a time when our investment in family services was much less, when we did not have services that we do have now, so there has been a decision, given the suite of services that are now currently available, from our maternal and child health line to our Orange Door. Since those opposite were in government we have tripled our investment in family services. In the time that our government has been in government we have well and truly established a suite of services, such as our maternal and child health phone line. Just yesterday – and I will be pleased to talk about this again later today – I was visiting our maternal and child health phone line nurses who just here in the Treasury precinct, 24/7, provide an invaluable service for people who are parents of children aged zero to five.
We have services such as our Orange Door. We have services such as our extended network of early parenting centres. We have in the course of this government moved from having just three early parenting centres to building a network of 13 parenting centres right across our state. In 2024–25 there were over 19,000 unique families who received support through the family services portfolio. Across the board we are investing in supporting parents in their parenting journey in a number of ways, from the services we directly provide through things such as maternal and child health and early parenting to the services we provide through schools, such as doctors in schools and mental health supports for students in schools. Across the board we are providing in different ways, in very different times from when Parentline was established, a suite of services that not just help parents in one specific way but support parents across their entire parenting journey from the early years through to secondary school.
Sarah MANSFIELD (Western Victoria) (12:15): I thank the minister for her response, although, while I acknowledge the value of all the services she has mentioned, none of them truly duplicate the support provided by Parentline. There are concerns throughout the sector that there has been a lack of coordination, planning or communication prior to this decision being made. Can you confirm whether the service review of Parentline flagged by your government was ever undertaken and how this informed your conversations with the sector?
Lizzie BLANDTHORN (Western Metropolitan – Minister for Children, Minister for Disability) (12:15): I thank Dr Mansfield for her supplementary question, and I confirm for her, on the suite of services – and the Treasurer beside me and other ministers will vouch for this as well – we are constantly reassessing the effectiveness of all of our service provision. In making the decision to cease Parentline we have done so in the context of tripling our investment in family services and of having a maternal and child health phone service that is more than 100 years old and that has stood the test of time, but over time we have also invested in services such as the Orange Door, in services such as our parenting centres and in services that came about through the mental health royal commission. In a range of ways the offering that our government provides to support parents on their parenting journey is more than threefold that which it had been previously. And in different ways we continue to support parents through those services that I have listed more than once now and will not list, for the benefit of the house, a third time. But it is important to note that we have supported parents in many ways and will continue to support parents in both the challenges and the rewarding journey of – (Time expired)