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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 6 Hansard (25 May) . . Page.. 1812 ..

MR STANHOPE (continuing):

Mr Speaker, our society can be judged on how we treat the less well off, the less able and the less fortunate. At present, we can be found wanting in certain key areas. Labor's first priority is to improve our care of people in need, and in working to meet that priority we would focus on a range of areas.

Disabled people and their needs are still not accorded the support and recognition they require. The government must provide more resources. We would allocate more to individual support packages which give on-the-ground, real assistance to disabled people.

In relation to public housing, a home provides more than a roof over your head. Labor believes that housing is the key to social wellbeing. Too often, government housing tenants find themselves in financial and personal difficulties. Very often, ACT Housing is the first to see evidence of these difficulties, but has the policy that other agencies should attend to them. Labor will provide more resources to ACT Housing for assistance and guidance to people in difficulty. The government's attitude is evidenced by the experience of the public housing tenants at Red Hill and Mawson summonsed yesterday to meetings to be told of redevelopment and sale plans for their homes, less than 24 hours after they were announced in this budget.

We must care for the carers. The government is saved millions of dollars by the selfless work of thousands of carers who themselves may no longer be young and fit. They need care just to continue their demanding and voluntary job and Labor will provide more financial assistance for them.

Mental health services should meet the needs of each individual and should be accessible, flexible and responsive. Labor will provide additional support to consumers, including the examination of the viability of the "clubhouse" proposal.

In relation to public transport, Labor will review the zonal bus system to introduce fairness and remove inequities in the cost of bus travel, especially for school students. Labor will review the government's misguided decision not to allow concessions to be used against bus fares in peak times.

Labor will provide a focus on key issues for young people-youth housing programs, health and better transport.

Our public hospital system is an excellent one, but it has to be appropriately resourced. We have been cutting back at the Canberra Hospital for a decade, but we still have the same results-budget overruns, bed closures, fewer nurses and other staff, expanding waiting lists and continuing reports of an inefficient hospital 30 to 40 per cent over national benchmarks. Labor will undertake a thorough assessment of the assumptions underlying the hospital's budget and its benchmarking. We must determine whether the hospital is being set budgeting hurdles that it cannot clear. We must resolve this cycle of continuing cuts, declines in service, and constant demands for expenditure reduction.

The difference between Labor and Liberal is perhaps more evident in each party's approach to education than in many other areas. Labor supports a high-quality, accessible public education system where the needs of all children are addressed. Labor, in contrast to the Liberals, also supports a reasonable employment policy for its own workforce.

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