Page 3220 - Week 10 - Tuesday, 18 October 2022
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aspect of how we create a community where older people are celebrated. But I want us to do more than that. I want us to be a place where older people have access to the services they need and have opportunities to engage fully in community life, and where older people thrive.
That is why we published the Re-envisioning Older Persons Mental Health and Wellbeing in the ACT Strategy just a few months ago. This strategy enables the ACT government to look at the social determinants of mental health and wellbeing for older people, and work across directorates with our community sector and with older people themselves on actions to improve wellbeing. Areas of work include housing; community connection; suicide prevention; and increasing the mental health understanding of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, culturally and linguistically diverse, and LGBTIQ+ older Canberrans.
Taken together, the work within the Age-Friendly City Plan and the older persons mental health and wellbeing strategy addresses almost every aspect of life for older Canberrans.
Within the Age-Friendly Suburbs Program, funding was delivered in the 2021-22 budget for upgrades in Reid, Chifley, Scullin and O’Connor. The community can now provide feedback on the plans for each suburb via YourSay, and at community pop-ups over the next fortnight at Chifley shops from 12 pm to 2 pm on Thursday, 20 October; at Scullin shops from 12 pm to 2 pm on Friday, 21 October; at Geerilong Gardens playground in Reid from 11.30 am to 1 pm on Saturday, 29 October; and at O’Connor shops on Sargood Street from 1.30 pm to 3 pm on Saturday, 29 October.
The ACT government is also delivering 88 new or improved bus stops this year to improve the accessibility of local bus stops, and transitioning the entire bus fleet to be low-floor and accessible. A report by Women’s Health Matters on bus stop improvements in 2019 showed quite clearly how bus stops could be improved to feel safer for women travelling after dark, and these improvements will also make bus stops safer for older people. I encourage the community to provide feedback on where they would like to see changes or improvements in the Canberra public transport network via the Transport Canberra online feedback form or by calling 13 17 10.
As a self-confessed data nerd, I very much welcome Ms Lawder’s interest in having more information for our transport network planners to better understand the needs of older Canberrans. But MyWay data alone will not give us the full picture. The ACT and Queanbeyan household travel survey is the best place to find out about the travel needs of older Canberrans, encompassing public transport, active travel and cars. The most recent data we have is from the 2017 survey, but there is data being collected right now for the 2022 ACT and Queanbeyan household travel survey, with the public release of data due in 2023.
When it comes to public transport use, we know from the 2017 survey that people on lower incomes are more likely to trip-chain, and I expect this also applies to older Canberrans. Trip-chaining is when stops are made on a journey, such as taking a family member to the doctor, going on to another suburb to pick up a prescription from the chemist, and then, say, picking up a grandchild that you are looking after, after school, before returning home.
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