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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1999 Week 1 Hansard (16 February) . . Page.. 172 ..

MR CORBELL (continuing):

That program has gone. The opportunity for young people to be involved in the shared accommodation program, to go back into the community if they have been facing difficulties in their lives, to integrate themselves into the community or be involved - - -

Debate interrupted.

MR TEMPORARY DEPUTY SPEAKER (Mr Hird): Order! It being 5.00 pm, I propose the question:

That the Assembly do now adjourn.

Mr Humphries: I require the question to be put forthwith without debate.

Question resolved in the negative.

Discussion of Matter of Public Importance

Debate resumed.

MR CORBELL: We have seen the shared accommodation program disappear as well, a program vital for encouraging young people to get into public housing in a form which they can manage in terms of their incomes and in terms of the level of skills they have. Often, many of these younger people have difficulty with life skills and they need some assistance to live independently in a responsible way. That program has gone. I did not hear the Minister talk about that when he was listing all his programs. So we can see already that there is a range of very serious issues that need to be addressed, yet what we have heard from the Minister is that the framework is adequate; that the Government has a range of programs and it is just about tweaking them around the edges. That could not be further from the truth.

I come now to an issue of considerable concern which I think strikes at the Government's attitude towards the provision of youth services, and that is the circumstances surrounding the continued funding to the Woden and Civic youth centres. These two youth centres are two of the most successful and most highly used centres in the ACT. This Government has placed them on tenterhooks, has not given them guarantees of a long-term future, and has provided them with funding only until the middle of this year. That does not provide certainty of outcome. That does not provide security for the people who are providing services to young people through their centres, but that is the sort of approach we have seen from this Government.

The final issue I want to raise is in relation to the Ministerial Youth Advisory Council. Clearly, one of the most important issues that any government has to address is the involvement of young people in the development of policies that respond to their needs, particularly because young people are not seen as fully participating members of the

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