Page 986 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 21 April 2021
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suburbs included in the 2016 to 2020 parliamentary agreement, and the continuing roll out of more age-friendly suburbs over time.
I am pleased to update members that the Age-Friendly City Plan already includes actions to work towards enhancing Canberra as a dementia-friendly city. Extensive consultation was held to inform the plan in order for it to reflect community sentiment and the views of older Canberrans. This consultation included consultation forums, which helped community members, peak bodies and other sector stakeholders to draw out the key issues that older people face in staying healthy, active and engaged with their communities, and how older people would like these barriers to be addressed.
The plan facilitates collaboration across ACT directorates—which is just one of my absolute favourite things to be working on in this government—to progress a range of targeted actions for older Canberrans to enhance social inclusion, access to services, public transport and age-friendly urban planning, and to address age discrimination and elder abuse. As an example, the age-friendly suburbs program is continuing for the next four years to deliver pathways and related infrastructure that provide better access for older people, as well as other pathway users who may have specific mobility needs.
Another example is the senior grants program, which provides $80,000 annually for innovative projects which enable older Canberrans, including those with dementia, to actively participate in community life. The plan was also informed by the Dementia-Friendly Rotorua project and the Age-Friendly Manchester program. Representatives from Dementia Australia, the national peak body for people impacted by dementia in Australia, participated in the consultation forum. Under the plan, pilot projects will commence. They involve the creation of dementia-friendly spaces and events across Canberra. For example, Access Canberra ensures that when new service centres are designed, the needs of all customers are catered for, including older Canberrans and those affected by dementia. The Belconnen Service Centre will be relocated in the middle of 2021, and Access Canberra will undertake community engagement to seek input in relation to the design of the new service centre.
While it has not been possible to progress dementia-friendly events over the last 12 months, due to the impact of COVID-19, it is expected that these events will be able to be progressed over the next year, dependent on the trajectory of the pandemic. So, in addition to the actions targeted directly towards those living with dementia, the plan also contains a number of actions to enhance accessibility and the inclusion of all older Canberrans, including those with dementia.
The Seniors Grants program has been finetuned to further support activities which occur in local outdoor community spaces, resulting in grant funding being provided to COTA ACT for pop-up events in parks across Canberra that facilitate a range of physical, creative and cognitive activities designed for seniors. This grant program has recently provided funding to ArtSound for the Canberra seniors’ memories project, to Canberra Dance Theatre for their seniors’ participation in dance and artistic activity program, and to Yeddung Mura Aboriginal Corporation for their healthy ageing program.
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