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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2002 Week 13 Hansard (21 November) . . Page.. 3878 ..

MS GALLAGHER (continuing):

The committee believed that more support should be provided to women and children trying to re-establish their lives after living with violence, and that additional resources need to be provided to organisations such as the Rape Crisis Centre to extend counselling support for women.

Importantly, under this topic the committee has also made recommendations in relation to early intervention and violence prevention, and they focus primarily on the next generation-our children. We need to look after the children who witness violence and support them so we can try to break the increasing problem of inter-generational violence.

The committee also recommends that a working party be made up of various representatives from law enforcement, health promotion, the women's sector, community organisations and education to look at implementing an across-the-board information and education campaign regarding all aspects of violence against women, with the view of including violence prevention education as a part of school curriculum.

The important point here is that violence against women is serious and prevalent, and we need to educate our children that violence against women is not acceptable or condoned. We also need to ensure that we look after, support and counsel those children and other family members who witness and endure violence in their lives.

The level of violence against women in the ACT indicates that current adult populations have much to learn, and, whilst the committee does comment on strategies to address adults who use violence in their lives, the committee strongly supports measures and strategies to educate future generations against using violence against women.

I would now like to touch on the issue of economic independence for women. Women in the ACT still earn less than men and the income gap is larger in the lower skilled occupations. A big impact on economic independence for women is child care. In the majority, women remain primary caregivers and the cost of full-time, long-day care for one child is anything between $200 and $300 a week. These fees are a huge burden on family incomes, and particularly single parents.

Another example of a barrier to economic independence is the wages of women, and here I will again use child care as the example. In 1997, 97.5 per cent of child-care professionals were women. A level 1 child-care worker at the maximum can earn $22,000 a year, a junior aged 17 in full-time work receives about $11,000 a year, and a level 4 child-care worker, who is actually the head of the room and designs all the programs for our children, earns a maximum of $29,000 a year. Many of these workers cannot afford child care themselves. Whilst these problems remain largely out of reach of the ACT government, the committee does look forward to the ACT government report into demand and staffing in ACT child care.

In terms of employment, the committee focused on the ACT public service, as this is an employment base where the ACT government can exert significant influence. The committee notes and supports current arrangements which encourage women's participation in the service, and the committee encourages the continuation and enhancement of flexible arrangements to encourage women's participation in the work

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