Page 923 - Week 04 - Tuesday, 19 April 1994

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Last year, in launching Seniors Week, the Chief Minister made a point of noting how highly she valued the advice that this body gave her. It was proved pretty soon how highly she valued it, because the first thing the Council on the Ageing did was to say to the Chief Minister, "We want to be able to give you good advice, but we need a research assistant to allow us to do it", and the Chief Minister refused to provide assistance. It took about two days to prove just how highly valued that advice was.

Here we are, one year later, and we find that this organisation that the Chief Minister values so highly is on the point of collapse financially, and the Chief Minister does not even know whether she is prepared to keep them open. She knew, as I knew, yesterday that this organisation is in financial difficulty. It does not matter that she gave them $70,000 last year and $73,000 this year. The fact is that they do not have sufficient funds to remain in operation and to do the function that they were established to do. This is the organisation that the Chief Minister values so highly. But it does not end there. That is just an indication of how the Government really feels about our ageing community.

I would like to review, on the one hand, some of the things that the Chief Minister said and, on the other, the things that she has failed to do over the last three years. I need to go no further than the statement that she made at this time last year in her annual speech on Seniors Week. It was the usual platitudes. It started with Ms Follett stating:

The Government has a strong commitment to ensuring that the welfare of this important group within our community is safeguarded.

They are good words, but what did she do as a result of that? The answer is absolutely nothing. I would like to refer to the statement that the Chief Minister put out with her budget last year. It is called "Towards a Social Justice Budget Statement". There are some good words in it too. She defines what she means by "social justice" as follows:

There are four key principles which underpin a socially just community ...

I will abbreviate them. The first principle is:

the principle of equity requires fairness in the distribution of wealth, goods and services, power and the capacity to access opportunities and resources.

Good. The second one is:

the principle of access dictates that all members of the community, regardless of income level, are entitled to resources and services ...

The third one is:

the principle of participation means that all members of the community should have the opportunity to participate in decisions relating to issues which directly affect their lives;


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