Page 3635 - Week 12 - Wednesday, 24 November 2021
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meet our obligations under the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander procurement policy. This initiative aligns with our commitments under the ACT Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Agreement 2019-2028, particularly in the significant area of connecting the community.
Delivering a purpose-built facility for and with Gugan Gulwan was a Labor election commitment in the 2020 election, and we are proud to be delivering that through this budget. It builds on the amazing new facility that we worked with Winnunga Nimmityjah to deliver and the ACT government investment of $13.5 million, but with Winnunga leading that work and delivering that project. I was also pleased to be able to secure from my colleague Minister Hunt an additional $4.5 million for that project a couple of years ago to ensure that it could be fully fitted out. Anyone who visits now can see what an enormous difference it is making to Winnunga’s capacity to deliver their vitally important services that are funded across a range of ACT government directorates, as well as primarily by the Commonwealth government.
The Safe and Connected Youth project is very close to my heart. This budget allocates $7 million over four years for the Safe and Connected Youth coordinated service response program, including $4.1 million for the operational costs of therapeutic respite accommodation; $2.6 million for early preservation outreach services, including mediation and case work; $157,000 for post-exit outreach services; and $185,000 for work to establish the program. This funding continues and expands the Safe and Connected Youth program to include therapeutic respite accommodation, building a coordinated service response for children and young people and their families. This funding will help to reduce youth homelessness and supports the reunification of children and young people with their families by resolving family conflict before it is too late, particularly for those young people who are not old enough to be supported by our existing youth homelessness services, which are restricted to those 16 and older.
It will enable a 24-hour therapeutic accommodation response for children and young people who need some time away from their families. The expanded ongoing Safe and Connected Youth program fills a gap in the service system by providing more services for children and young people in the middle years. Expanding and providing ongoing funding for Safe and Connected Youth delivers Labor’s election commitment to provide an ongoing coordinated service response for young people aged eight to 15 years who are at risk of homelessness or engagement with the child protection or youth justice systems.
I have mentioned that the revised indexation rate for the community sector in this budget includes $4 million over four years to support an increased indexation rate for community-sector funding. This reflects the government’s commitment to increase the community-sector indexation rate to assist community organisations to meet the higher wage costs following the recent Fair Work Commission decision to increase the national minimum wage and associated awards by 2.5 per cent—something that, of course, is greatly welcomed by Labor members. Eligible organisations will receive an adjusted funding amount to top up the indexation component from the 1.75 per cent that was estimated in contracts, to the 2.5 per cent for the wages component of all eligible contracts.
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