Karen Andrews (McPherson, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This week is MoneySmart Week, a national initiative promoting the importance of financial literacy. I want to acknowledge the efforts of the many hardworking financial counsellors throughout the country who deliver services to the community to help people make sound decisions regarding their finances and household budgets. As we all know, making sound money decisions is a core skill in today's world and poor financial choices can have far-reaching consequences.

I want to especially acknowledge the community financial counselling services that are offered in my electorate at the Palm Beach Neighbourhood Centre, by a team headed by Samantha Way. Last month I was pleased to take the Minister for Social Services to the centre so he could see first-hand the great work being done, largely through federal funding.

Samantha and her team provided direct assistance to 525 local residents last year, and are about to launch a special campaign aimed at educating young people about avoiding debt. I thank them for their work and wish them all the best for their latest campaign. As we all know, debt can spiral and be a difficult situation to resolve with tough decisions having to be made as a result.

I was very pleased that the minister took the decision to maintain federal funding for community financial counselling services, which was due to expire last financial year. It is evidence that the coalition intrinsically understands the value of sound financial management.