CENTRE Alliance candidate for Barker Kelly Gladigau has questioned the Federal Government’s priorities in contributing funds to Mount Gambier’s proposed sport and recreation centre ahead of primary health facilities.
Ms Gladigau said the omission of the South East in the new federal $20m additional drug and alcohol funding grant scheme demonstrated the government was “losing sight of what was important”.
“Why are we worried about building a community centre in Mount Gambier when we are not worrying about the mental health and health of our constituents?” she said.
“We have our priorities all messed up.”
The Mannum resident welcomed a motion moved by Senator Stirling Griff last week, which called on the Federal Government to release the information it relied on when choosing which South Australian locations would be eligible to apply for the funds.
The Department of Health states it consulted with the South Australian Government, Primary Health Networks and the South Australian Network of Drug and Alcohol Services to determine the areas “most in need” of additional funding.
In a statement, a Drug and Alcohol Services South Australia (DASSA) spokesperson said the South East was “certainly considered” but “did not rank higher than those regions most in need”.
The statement said Adelaide Primary Health Network, Country SA Primary Health Network, SA Health and the South Australian Network of Drug and Alcohol Services were consulted by the Federal Health Department.
“SA Health provided advice to the Australian Government to assist them to identify funding objectives, commissioning options and areas of needs, which were identified using a range of available data,” the spokesperson said.
“The final list of locations included in the grant opportunity guidelines was the decision of the Australian Government when considering the advice of all groups, not just SA Health.
“While increased alcohol and other drug treatment services would be beneficial for all regions, there needs to be a level of prioritisation for funding purposes.
“Since 2012, there has been increased investment from SA Health in the South East, including increased outpatient appointments since 2015 and a new residential rehabilitation facility in 2018.”
However, Ms Gladigau claimed services in Mount Gambier “have been left scratching their heads” about the decision.
“I believe it has been a massive oversight and I want to see how the government came to that conclusion,” she said.
Ms Gladigau said the government had until 9am on December 20 to table the information and sources it relied on to make the decision to exclude Mount Gambier-based services from applying for a portion of the $20m in funding under the terms of the motion.
