Thursday, 14 August 2025

Parentline

Georgie CROZIER (Southern Metropolitan) (12:28): (1011) My question is again to the Minister for Children. Minister, the closure of Parentline is imminent, and you have said there are services available, including the maternal and child health line, but that is only to assist parents of children nought to five years of age; Orange Door, which is only for family violence and open from 9 to 5; Raising Children Network, which is only a website; Headspace, which has a waitlist; and Safe Steps, which is also for family violence. None of these services do in fact fill the role of Parentline, which caters specifically for parents of children from birth to 18 years old across all areas of parenting, from behaviour management and child development to family relationships, and it is available for vulnerable parents and families from 8 am to midnight. Minister, where exactly will vulnerable families access the tailored support and advice that Parentline provides when it ceases operation due to your cruel funding cuts?

Lizzie BLANDTHORN (Western Metropolitan – Minister for Children, Minister for Disability) (12:29): This government is investing in families, and we will not be lectured by those opposite. In the time our government has been in power, investment in family services has increased threefold. You keep giving me an opportunity to say it, and I will keep saying it: we have invested three times the amount in family services for vulnerable children, young people and their families than when those opposite were in power. So it is a bit rich for them to sit here and pretend to care when in their time, in their day, there was nowhere near the suite of services.

David Davis: On a point of order, President, it is well known that in question time it is a chance to answer questions, not to attack the opposition.

The PRESIDENT: I uphold the point of order. There are a number of rulings that indicate that previous to me being in the Chair. I ask the minister to answer the question without reflecting on others.

Lizzie BLANDTHORN: It is just a little bit frustrating when those opposite pretend to care, because in their time there was not that investment in family services. This government is investing in families.

David Davis: On a point of order, President, the minister is just directly flouting your ruling and attacking the opposition again. I ask you to return her to answering the question directly.

The PRESIDENT: I kind of had a feeling that after an initial flourish she was getting to the answer. I call the minister to answer.

Lizzie BLANDTHORN: I am more than happy to talk about how our government is investing in families, and facts are important. In our time in government we have doubled the funding to family services, increasing that funding to over $446 million, and we are investing in services – not just one phone line but across a suite of services. When those opposite were in power, there was a phone line –

Georgie Crozier: Since we were in power, Minister, our population has increased by 1.3 million. So my point of order, President, is very specific. Where exactly will vulnerable families access the tailored support and advice that Parentline provides? That was the question, and I would ask you to draw the minister back to the question.

The PRESIDENT: I understand your point of order. I think the minister was relevant to the question. But I remind members that everyone has a right to raise a point of order and they should not be shouted at when they are trying to make their point of order. I ask the minister to continue her answer.

Lizzie BLANDTHORN: The point I was trying to make before I was interrupted by those opposite is that since Parentline was established, in a time when there was not the suite of services that is available now, there are a range of services rather than one single phone line that can provide a breadth of service tailored to the particular issues, challenges and supports that families need in their parenting journey. Rather than just one single phone line, we have a maternal and child health phone line. As I updated the house earlier in the week, I was very pleased to meet with those wonderful nurses at the maternal and child health nurse hotline just here in the Treasury precinct and talk to them about the issues they talk to families about in the zero-to-five cohort. We also have services for vulnerable families, as Ms Crozier herself has drawn attention to, in the family services suite of things, and in addition to the family services, things like the Orange Door. We also have a breadth –

Members interjecting.

Sonja Terpstra: On a point of order, President, I am sitting directly behind the minister and I am struggling to hear her answer. Despite your direction to the chamber this morning, the barrage of interjection and noise from those opposite continues. I would ask that the minister be allowed to continue her contribution in silence.

The PRESIDENT: Yes. I will ask the minister to continue.

Lizzie BLANDTHORN: As I said, in addition to the services for those zero to five through the maternal and child health hotline, we also have a suite of services for children who might be older and for families with children who are in those older age categories, from our mental health and doctors in school supports to a range of other wellbeing opportunities through our mental health facilities, through our hospitals. Through our other programs across our family services suite, we have a range of specialised services – rather than just a single phone line, which those opposite seem to think is just absolutely critical – a suite of them, which go from the maternal and child health days of our zero-to-five category to those that support the parenting journey across children and young people throughout their whole education and across the suite of issues that go to ensuring the wellbeing of children from their education and care needs to their health needs, their mental health needs – (Time expired)

Georgie CROZIER (Southern Metropolitan) (12:34): Gee, she is struggling today. Minister, what consultation did you undertake with Parentline about the cruel funding cut and closure of this service?

Lizzie BLANDTHORN (Western Metropolitan – Minister for Children, Minister for Disability) (12:35): Again, Ms Crozier seems to be lacking in the capacity to actually draft questions this week, because that is also a very similar if not the same question to that which we had earlier in the week. As I said in response to the question earlier in the week, the government undertakes a range of consultation and a range of considerations continuously to ensure that the programs that we run are meeting a particular need. Since Parentline was established we have tripled investments in family services, we have continued to support the maternal and child health phone line and we have put in place a whole lot of supports through things such as the schooling environment, like doctors in schools and mental health supports in schools, and there are a range of other services that now provide more tailored solutions and supports for families than one single phone line.

Nick McGowan: On a point of order, President, on relevance, the question asked was in respect to what consultation the minister had undertaken, not the phone line itself. I would ask you to bring the minister back to the question.

The PRESIDENT: I heard the minister say that there was a range of consultation on and consideration over all services, which I guess would cover that as well. So I do not uphold the point of order.