Page 3647 - Week 12 - Wednesday, 24 November 2021
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greater focus on prevention for people who have been in situations of violence at home. This, in combination with the commitment to develop a domestic and family violence death review mechanism, gives me hope that the ACT government will have adequate resources to assess and act upon any developments in this area in the future.
As the ACT Greens spokesperson for young people, I am happy to see that these commitments will positively impact the lives of both women and children in domestic violence situations. The children of today are the adults and future of tomorrow. We owe it to them to build a healthy environment for them to grow up in. Thus, I was pleased to see a commitment by the ACT government to increase funding for the early childhood strategy program and the family and domestic violence frontline worker training program. This, in turn, will have a greater impact in preventing exposure and providing early intervention for young people in situations of family and domestic violence, with the aim of creating a brighter future for our kids.
In closing, I would like to touch on the women’s budget statement for 2021-22. Issues facing women must be given proper consideration through government processes for any government policy around domestic and family violence to work. This budget statement is a step in the right direction; however, the ACT Greens believe that for the issues affecting women to be given proper reflection in the ACT budget, they must be considered in every output of every directorate.
As it stands, a woman’s budget statement is better than no women’s budget statement at all; but, ultimately, we need to mainstream gendered analysis of the budget. Women make up 50 per cent of our population, and they need to be a direct and integrated part of our budget framing in order for inequality to be addressed and eliminated. I look forward to advocating for this in the future.
MR MILLIGAN (Yerrabi) (5.08): Surprise, surprise, I am disappointed to see so little set aside for the development of various strategies within the disability portfolio. There was very limited additional funding for extra programs to be offered in the ACT, despite some strong budget submissions coming from key stakeholders.
Epilepsy ACT wanted support for their much-needed work in helping people with epilepsy. No money was allocated for supporting the advocacy for work of women with disability, and no funding for the work of the ACT Down Syndrome Association. Each of these organisations is doing great work supporting people with a disability here in the ACT. They sought funding beyond the smaller amounts—from anywhere between $5,000 and $20,000—handed out in the competitive grants rounds. Overlooked in this budget were more-than-deserving organisations who submitted requests for additional support. These organisations work tirelessly caring for individuals living with a disability here in the ACT, many of whom were doing it tough through the current ACT COVID pandemic.
Knowing that within the near future the federal government will be launching the new National Disability Strategy, it is surprising to see no forward estimates for the development of the ACT’s response. You would think it is important to show it will meet the expectations of the new federal strategy while meeting its obligations
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