Page 1185 - Week 05 - Tuesday, 24 April 1990
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There are some very practical ways in which we, as the community and the Government, can show our care for, and express our thanks to, our veterans. For the duration of Anzac Day 1990, tomorrow, the Government has decided that there will be free ACTION bus travel for all members of the armed services in uniform and all ex-service personnel who are wearing military decorations - a small gesture indeed, but indicative of the fact that gratitude can be expressed without grand gestures. Through this small gesture we, the community of the ACT, will show our appreciation of the great contribution made by our past and present service personnel.
More significantly, as our veterans age - and nearly all of our ex-servicemen and women from the Second World War are now at or beyond retiring age - one of the community's priorities must be the provision of a range of adequate and appropriate accommodation for them. At present, Canberra has supported hostel accommodation for 66 veterans in the Sir Leslie Morshead War Veterans' Home in Lyneham. Some veterans, of course, are also eligible for government housing, in the form of aged persons units. The Alliance is conscious of the need for government to provide appropriate accommodation for the ageing as well as to facilitate developments by community groups to fill this growing need.
In line with its well-established tradition of self-reliance, the RSL has been seeking government agreement to its proposal to establish a veterans village to provide self-care accommodation for ex-servicemen and women. It proposes to provide accommodation in three stages of 20 units each and also to establish an Abbeyfield house. The Abbeyfield house would provide a further accommodation option for veterans who would share supported accommodation in an independent and domestic situation. We have been working to identify a site for this veterans village, in response to the RSL initiative. The Interim Territory Planning Authority is working to identify a suitable site near the Belconnen town centre. If the site selected requires a policy plan variation, a draft variation proposal will be released for public comment - and this could be within the next six weeks. I am hopeful that as a community we will be able to give the RSL a positive response to its request well before the end of this year.
The Alliance Government recently released the Blueprint for the Ageing, which sets out a five-year framework for policies and services for Canberra's ageing. We are committed to taking account of the needs of elderly people, who constitute a major political and economic force with significant needs and aspirations and who have been ignored for too long. A high proportion of this part of our population, of course, consists of veterans. We are currently working on a policy specifically for veterans, and this will be completed soon. It will provide a framework to ensure that the special needs of veterans are
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