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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2001 Week 5 Hansard (3 May) . . Page.. 1447 ..

MR STANHOPE (continuing):

unmet need. I see this in the budget. Labor will develop a social plan. The Liberals will appoint, I see from the budget, a community planning adviser.

Under Labor, ACT Housing will provide support and guidance to tenants it knows are in difficulty. I see again that that is in the budget papers. Labor has committed to funding youth-link programs, like that run by the St Vincent de Paul. This is in the budget.

A week and a half ago Bill Wood said Labor would give greater physical support to people with mental health problems. A schizophrenia rehabilitation program is funded in the budget.

Labor has long campaigned for additional funds for the public dental program, to replace funds provided by a federal Labor government but abolished by the Liberals and allowed to languish by the Canberra Liberals as well. We committed recently to providing significant additional funds to the program, and the budget has specific provision to reduce dental waiting lists.

Mr Speaker, it is self-evident that something has to be done about the provision of disability services in the territory. Labor committed to the provision of additional resources in disability services but, more importantly, to responding to the forthcoming reports of the coroner and the Gallop inquiry (an inquiry fiercely resisted by the Moore/Humphries government) after true consultation with those affected-the providers, purchasers, users and families. The budget provides for additional disability services and for a disability service improvement scheme. Labor's concern is to ensure these initiatives are not the sole response of the government to the pending inquiry reports.

These are examples of the government following Labor in dealing with poverty and disadvantage. They are welcome signs that the government is at least making some effort to deal with the untenable situation uncovered by the poverty inquiry. In this most affluent of Australian cities, too many people are doing it tough.

One in 12 Canberrans lives below the poverty line. In a community that prides itself on its sense of civic responsibility, that is simply disgraceful. Think of it. Up to 30,000 Canberrans are living in households with a weekly income of between $250 and $300. Just imagine it. Just think about that. And this government had the temerity to argue to the Industrial Relations Commission that the only fair wage increase for low-income earners was the bare minimum.

This government did not even have the integrity to argue a figure. Even its federal partners did that. John Howard and his colleagues thought it would be appropriate to raise the minimum wage from $400 to $410. But at least it made a submission. At least it was prepared to give some indication of how much it thought Australians should be asked to live on. The Howard government thought $410. The Humphries government did not even have the integrity to argue a figure. They just suggested, "Give them as little as you can." And that is what they got. As the TLC secretary, Jeremy Pyner, said today, the outcome was "miserable".

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