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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 07 Hansard (Tuesday, 29 June 2004) . . Page.. 3001 ..

The Messengers program is a good one, which could certainly be better promoted to assist youth at risk, giving them another goal or interest in life. I take the criticism I copped last time when I raised the issue that the Tuggeranong Community Arts Association was the rightful place in which to raise and run that program. I would still like to see the arts centre, for example, run that program but tie it in more closely with the established youth centres.

We should be trying to promote these youth centres to be beacons for these kids. We should try to attract more of our youth to youth centres through programs like the Messengers program, but tie the programs in with the successful youth centres. If we can do that, then I think we will be better focusing assistance programs to help a broader range of kids and give them somewhere to go and something do, rather than having them wandering aimlessly around the place getting themselves into trouble.

MS DUNDAS (12.55): I want to thank the minister for providing some detail on how the extra money that is going into the Office for Children, Youth and Family Support will be utilised. It was heartening to hear that one of the main priorities is alternative accommodation options, as I raised under the area of disability, housing and community services. Accommodation for young people at risk is an area that needs greater attention because young people make up the major component of homeless people in the ACT. I am glad to see that that is one of the initial moves being undertaken through the implementation of Vardon.

I would also like to note that there are some very important initiatives in here in relation to the youth and family services or family support area, as the minister has pointed out. This is a great contrast, compared to last year’s budget and the budget before, where so much of the focus on young people was about young people in schools. We need to recognise that young people spend a lot of time outside of school and there needs to be support for them across the different aspects of their lives.

Mr Pratt has raised concerns about how our youth centres are operating. There are excellent youth centres operating in every region of the ACT. I think there just needs to be more support for making those youth centres safe places, and we need to ensure that the programs they run can continue to run in concert with the broader community.

Even though I note that the Vardon report, which came down after the delivery of the budget by the Treasurer, has recommended a commissioner for children and young people and that the government has agreed to that recommendation, this is an issue that has been on the agenda for at least the last 2½ years. I feel that this could have been progressed a little bit more quickly by the government. We will not see a youth commissioner until 2005.

I note that the minister said that some of the initial funding for the Vardon implementation will be in relation to increased advocacy for children and young people at risk. I hope that, through the ongoing response to Vardon, we develop a youth commissioner model that supports young people at risk and one that also supports young people who are just trying to have their voices heard in the community.

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