Page 323 - Week 02 - Tuesday, 20 February 1990
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commissioned and presented to a Federal Minister for Territories. Nevertheless, it is an excellent report and serves as a very useful guideline for governments in their responsibility for taking action on poverty.
The most fundamental need for government - for the current Government as for the Government which I led - is to have a coherent and coordinated strategy which is aimed at helping people in our community to improve their lives in the ACT. It is of great concern to me that Mr Kaine has chosen to take an apparently combative approach over this matter. This was certainly not our intention in raising the issue. It is also of concern that as yet we do not have a very clear indication from Mr Kaine's Government of what sort of services people will be enjoying. We had an illustration in question time today when he said he did not know what a hospital service might cost. That has got to be a worry to people.
There has been some discussion at the federal level of a community agreement over these sorts of issues. In the federal arena that agreement was perceived as an action plan that would work between all tiers of government, the unions, businesses and the community. I think that the idea of a community agreement is one which should have a great deal of attraction in the ACT given our particular circumstances at the moment, as we are still in the very early days of self-government and we are still exploring the issues that most affect our community.
The sort of agreement that I believe might be appropriate for the ACT would be one that would look at issues like the nature and level of services that the community regards as the right of every citizen of the ACT. That would include, of course, essential services like health, education, housing and so on and many of the services that Mr Berry has spoken about today. I think that the agreement could also usefully look at the structures and processes for community participation in these issues in the ACT. As I said before, we are in the early days of self-government and it is not so long ago that Mr Salvaris reached the conclusion that generally the community in the ACT had very poor opportunities for participation in local affairs. I do not think we can take it for granted that the arrival of self-government has enormously increased opportunities for participation, because as yet some of the structures are still a hangover from the pre-self-government days. I think it would be very worthwhile reviewing them and ensuring that people do have a full and adequate opportunity.
I am sure that everybody in this Assembly knows that there is a need in the ACT to address people's needs. There are many Canberrans who are suffering from isolation and alienation and from disadvantage within our community. Many of these people, as Mr Kaine has pointed out, are elderly. Some of them are unemployed. Many of them are mothers at home with young children. There are also a
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