Wednesday, 27 August 2025

Parentline

Nick McGOWAN (North-Eastern Metropolitan) (19:10): (1895) My matter this evening is for the Treasurer and it relates specifically to Parentline. What I ask the Treasurer to do is to provide the $1.6 million it requires to keep Parentline open. We all know by now – or at least I hope we know by now – that on 31 October Parentline is to be shut. That is a great travesty. In fact today I took the effort of making sure that I looked at the government’s website – that is, the department’s website. It was illuminating, to say the least, because it speaks quite rightly of the great service Parentline provides. It has, for example, some reasons to ring Parentline. Some reasons can include: child behaviour and development, parent/carer–child relationships, education and bullying. It also has a number of quotes from people – that is, parents – who have used this service. This is a telephone service from 8 am to midnight, seven days a week, including public holidays and weekends. The two quotes here on the government website are:

“I often lack confidence in what I am doing so being able to talk with someone was really great for me. I did not feel put down or judged.”

A further quote:

“I felt a connection with the counsellor. They tailored (the call) to my situation.”

According to this website – that is, the government’s own website – the common parent concerns that are addressed by the website and the expert counsellors – so these are not people who are not experts, they are absolutely experts; they range from social workers to teachers to psychologists – are issues like, for example:

‘My 8 and 10 year old continuously fight.’

‘I am worried that my child is bullied at school.’

‘My stepchildren ignore me.’

‘My 12 year old daughter is on the internet a lot and I am not sure what she is doing.’

‘I suspect that my 14 year old is seeing an 18 year old.’

‘Child care had told me that my 2 year old is biting other children.’

‘My 15 year old has hit me.’

‘I read my daughter’s Facebook – she said she does not want to live anymore.’

This website of the government’s does give everyone an indication, a flavour of the value of Parentline. I will end with one further quote:

“I was most impressed that Parentline took my issues seriously. Sometimes I feel as if I am banging my head against a brick wall but I felt I got somewhere after the call”

There are 17,800 telephone calls received by Parentline every single year. The service they provide to parents to assist with their children aged 5 to 18 is critical. We cannot afford to let Parentline close on 31 October, and that is why tonight I am appealing to the Treasurer to find the $1.6 million in the budget, so she can give that to her colleagues and those around the cabinet table, so we can continue to have Parentline because there is no substitute for Parentline.