Page 575 - Week 04 - Thursday, 29 June 1989
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Another important thing - it is well recommended in this report - is that we need people to go out and to contact these homeless young people. We need outreach workers, simply to provide them with guidance, to show them where there is accommodation for them and to see that all matters relating to their schooling are comfortably settled. This is very important.
The report also recommends the formation of a youth peak body to provide advice. During the election campaign I had the privilege of meeting with the youth accommodation group in the ACT and found it to be highly articulate, sensible and knowledgeable. That is just one such group that ought to be giving the community and the Government the benefit of its considerable knowledge in this area.
Mr Speaker, I have highlighted, I believe, just three or four important issues that have come from this report. They are ones that I particularly wanted to emphasise so that Assembly members and perhaps the wider community will understand their importance and, in particular, recognise the sorry significance of the homeless youth problem.
MR DUBY (3.47): I think we all agree that when the Burdekin report on youth homelessness was first issued it highlighted a very great need within our community, and I think that a lot of people did not realise that there was such cause for concern within the community at large.
I am very reassured to hear the statement of the Minister that the recommendations - apparently the full recommendations - of the Burdekin committee have been accepted completely by the Government. The recommendations cover a whole range of issues, and I am pleased to see that the Government has decided to take action on all of them. I think the house as a whole would support those actions of the Government, because the case of youth homelessness is a shocking example of national neglect.
I notice though that there is one item there in the recommendations over which really this Government has no control, and that is income support for youth. As we are well aware, it comes under Federal guidelines. The matter may be looked at to see whether we can liaise in some way with the Federal Government in this area so that at least the youth of Canberra are not as disadvantaged as youth in other States may be.
I am particularly pleased to see that the Burdekin report found that there were some facets of ACT operations which came up for recommendation. Of course, they are the Barnardo's RAFT program and Short Cuts. It is good to see these proposals already in place within the ACT, and we commend the appropriate public service organisations for having them in place.
All in all, I would like to join with the other members in the house in supporting the recommendations of the report
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