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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 04 Hansard (Wednesday, 31 March 2004) . . Page.. 1443 ..

priority and I do not think that it is inappropriate for the Assembly to communicate that sentiment to the minister.

MR PRATT (4.16): I am happy to speak in support of this motion. Mr Wood’s comments about the aims of government to connect with youth at risk are absolutely well placed, and he certainly discussed SATs. These comments are laudable, and I think good work is being done by a number of government departments. But, parallel to that work currently being done, there is now an identified need—there always will be; it does not matter how much more sophisticated the government is able to make its youth work programs—for a night shelter. It is a unique facility that fills a niche requirement.

I have talked to the Salvos and other NGO workers who have worked with youth in Tuggeranong, and I have been out with them to visit displaced teenagers who are located around the parks and the lakeside. No doubt you have seen them too, John. These are kids who seem to have nowhere to go. Perhaps they have had yet another spat with mum, or a step-dad, and they have had a few beers as well and do not feel particularly happy. These NGOs do terrific work, but they do this work on the trot. They do not have a shelter to fall back on. They probably have an office. Indeed, some of the kids we have seen around the lakeside are semi-homeless, if not homeless. These young people are in conflict with their parents or their legal guardians.

I know that these non-government organisations would welcome the night shelter; they would probably like one in Tuggeranong. I do not know how far the budget will stretch, but Ms Dundas is quite right: let’s start by putting a shelter in Civic as a pilot project and then, hopefully, as we pull the resources together, go further afield, at least to the three major townships.

NGOs are filling a gap that the government should be involved in—at least, it should be in partnership with them. In fact, a partnership between NGOs and government is desirable in this type of work. In this case, one would hope that the NGOs could identify the user requirement for government to budget. Indeed, that is why we do not need a trial and we do not need another three or four reviews.

We simply have to talk to the NGOs, who are working at the coalface in our town centres. They know what the user requirement is. Let’s fund the project, but let’s perhaps give it to the NGOs to run. The NGOs ought to run the night shelter as the implementing partner of government. NGOs are staffed by people who are compassionate and who know the work that they have to be doing.

I would see a night shelter as being the first drop-off point for a severely emotional and/or displaced teenager. If they happened to be badly intoxicated, either with alcohol or drugs, going to the shelter would be the safest and smartest thing for a young—or older—teenager to do, rather than walking home at a dangerous hour of the night, catching a cab or, worse, bunking down in an industrial rubbish bin in an alley at the back of Civic or, worse still, mixing with the wrong crowd in the back of an alleyway behind Civic.

I would like to see a shelter staffed to provide not only a safe and secure environment but also a first point of assistance to either intoxicated or emotionally disturbed youth. It

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