State Plan

The Hon. PENNY SHARPE (Parliamentary Secretary) [4.44 p.m.]: I support the motion. The State Plan is a blueprint for better government and in turn for improved services for the people of New South Wales. Those of us on this side of the House believe in the power of good government to improve the lives of ordinary people. We do not believe that things will work out fine simply because they are left to mother nature, blind fate, market forces or some other equally arbitrary determinant. Unlike one member who suggested we should just proceed with no plan, intervention is needed to prevent people suffering unnecessarily, to provide for equal opportunity and to ensure a secure and sustainable future for this State. To be effective, government intervention cannot be driven solely by opinion polls and the 24-hour media cycle. It requires long-term planning based on genuine community consultation and planning that sets priorities and targets. This is exactly what this State Plan does.

More than 4,000 groups and individuals took part in the community consultations on the draft State Plan and around 50,000 visited the website during the consultation process. Those consulted included randomly selected individuals as well as peak bodies and local government representatives, and both face-to-face forums and online surveys were used to obtain feedback. All responses were analysed to ensure that every idea submitted was considered. Both the structure and priorities of the draft were altered to reflect the community's input before the State Plan was released. Every effort was made to provide adequate opportunities for community input on consultation on the scope and content of the plan.

The community review of the State Plan scheduled for 2009 will provide a further opportunity for the community to have input into the State Government's priorities and goals, and will enable feedback also to be obtained on the plan's progress. There will be scope to make further use of technical innovations to facilitate interactive communication between the Government and community through online surveys and forums when the plan is reviewed. Genuine community input into the State Government's priorities has ensured that the delivery of poor social services has remained at the centre of the political agenda in New South Wales both within the State Plan and during the recent election.