Page 715 - Week 05 - Wednesday, 5 July 1989
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Several initiatives will be introduced with the new SAAP agreement. These include the strengthening of the consultative processes for SAAP through the establishment of a ministerial advisory committee. The ACT Government has committed itself to effective and meaningful consultation with the community. The ministerial advisory committee will help our commitment in regard to SAAP.
The main role of the advisory committee will be to provide policy advice to Peter Staples and me, in particular on the development of an annual plan covering the operation of the program in the ACT. Of course, officers of my department will continue to consult with SAAP services on day-to-day issues as they do now.
The development of an annual Commonwealth-State SAAP plan, which will set out the operation of the program in the ACT, is another initiative introduced under the new agreement. A major aim of the plan is to identify priorities for SAAP for each financial year. My department will draft the plan, in consultation with the ACT Housing Trust, based on advice from the ministerial advisory committee. In developing these priorities there will be wide consultation with existing SAAP services, the community and other relevant government departments. Once priorities have been agreed these will be used as the basis on which applications for funding will be called for and assessed.
The new agreement introduces target groups to SAAP. Instead of the old subprograms - women, youth and general - SAAP will target particular groups in the community. This will enable funding to be more effectively provided to the most needy groups in the ACT. These target groups will be jointly agreed by Peter Staples and me after extensive consultation with the community. In addition, the new agreement states that SAAP will include services to meet the needs of and provide equitable access for Aboriginal people and people from non-English speaking backgrounds. SAAP will continue to emphasise the individual needs of clients and will actively work to enhance their dignity, self-esteem and independence.
In the ACT, SAAP provided about $3.5m of funding in 1988-89. In 1989-90 this will increase to approximately $4m, with the ACT providing about $1.8m of this total. Mr Staples and I have recently approved funding totalling $135,551 for new SAAP projects. I was particularly pleased to announce $30,000 funding for a consultancy - firstly, to analyse the reasons why young migrant people do not appear to be using SAAP services and, secondly, to recommend ways of addressing this situation. In addition, the migrant housing worker project will receive an extra $20,000 to publish pamphlets on SAAP funded services. These pamphlets will be translated into several languages and will be available at many outlets in the ACT. The funding of these projects reflects our Government's ongoing commitment to social justice.
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