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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 07 Hansard (Tuesday, 29 June 2004) . . Page.. 2856 ..

the centres to continue. Considering the work that the digital divide program has been successful in completing over the past number of years, it is disappointing that this does not appear to be a priority for the government. It is being cut back and there is some uncertainty about its future.

I would also like to touch briefly on the Office of Multicultural Affairs, which I hope from this budget will be able to support the ACT Multicultural Women’s Advocacy Service which is at threat of having its doors closed by a reduction in funding from the federal government. Whilst it is incredibly disappointing that the federal government has backed away from that important service, I hope that the ACT government, through the Office of Multicultural Affairs or the Office of Women is able to support the work that the centre does. It is a very important advocacy service, helping women from a diverse range of backgrounds and a diverse range of life experiences here in the ACT.

A number of issues are being worked on through the Chief Minister’s Department—the multicultural centre, the veterans’ memorial, the children and family centres, work on Manuka Oval, the dragway or the convention exhibition facilities—that need to be approached with more of a whole-of-government analysis. The committee made some recommendations in relation to that in its report. It is interesting to see the government’s response. It is an opportunity for the Chief Minister’s Department to focus more on that whole-of-government work it is employed to do.

MR PRATT (11.41): I wish to talk briefly about the multicultural component of the Chief Minister’s Department. It is hard to find in this appropriation bill funding increases for the services the people of Canberra are receiving—or not receiving. I note, however, that it is a positive result for the multicultural community that $2.591 million in capital works has been funded to build a multicultural centre by June 2005. My understanding is that that is merely an upgrade of the second floor of an existing government building, and I am extremely disappointed that that is the case. The multicultural community too will be very disappointed that the opportunity is not being taken here to allocate funding for the building of a stand-alone centre.

The multicultural community needs a multicultural centre that is discrete, that has the capacity for people to park and enter, and with multifunctional rooms and services available within. I do not know whether those sorts of services can be catered for in the government’s current plan. I hope the government will look at that issue and come back with a much more positive plan. It is like the funding for the Woden police station. We will not hold our breath for the centre to be built.

A couple of other things in the multicultural area are sadly lacking. I do not see sufficient funding allocated for multicultural liaison officers. There is a paucity of these people in the community to help, particularly, with aged care issues. I see little funding available for the development of aged care centres. This is an area that the community does not understand enough about and the government is neglecting the need. As members of the multicultural community age, they face a whole raft of challenges that we of the mainstream Anglo-Celtic part of society do not necessarily face. The communities themselves are very keenly aware of this. They know that as their aged become much older they suddenly have all sorts of communication problems and they find it much more difficult accessing community services.

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