Page 2751 - Week 08 - Thursday, 24 August 2006
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previous government there was a clear consultation protocol that members of the public and the Assembly could follow, but the excellent engagement strategy that now exists is voluntary and non-prescriptive and is not followed by government often enough.
In relation to disability, we are very pleased with the increased funding of home and community care programs that will enable people to continue to live in the community. We are pleased that the ACT government has matched commonwealth funding to reduce the number of younger people with disabilities in aged care facilities. That is a major advance for one of the most marginalised and isolated groups of people with disabilities in the community.
There is, however, a continuing high level of unmet need for ISPs and other general support for people with disabilities to engage in the broader community. We must also keep a watch on how the welfare to work proposal impacts on ACT government services for people with a disability, because there may be an increase in demand. I note that DHCS is doing some work in this area and I look forward to hearing about its findings and recommended initiatives.
Turning to childcare, the Greens have been calling in recent months for the government to investigate the level of demand for childcare across the community, to consider co-locating childcare centres with primary schools, and to develop a childcare strategy. We have seen movement on these requests, even though the government knocked back my motion at the time. It has undertaken a mapping exercise and preliminary results have revealed a shortage of places for babies and young infants in many parts of Canberra. It is also considering providing extra space at Lyons primary school for childcare. However, I still call on the ACT government to develop a childcare strategy, given the large number of preschools proposed for closure and unmet demand concerning babies and young infants.
MR SPEAKER: Order! The member’s time has expired.
DR FOSKEY: I wish to take advantage of the opportunity to speak for a further 10 minutes. This budget has provided very few youth-specific initiatives through this section of the department, despite the ACT having the highest proportion of young people in Australia. There are, however, a number of budget initiatives that relate to young people and I will make mention of them here. Initiatives that will have a positive impact on children and young people include the 3.7 per cent indexation for youth and community services, increased access to short and long-term 24-hour residential supported accommodation and day support for young people with mental illnesses, and increased funding for mental health promotion, prevention and early intervention initiatives, particularly in regard to training for youth workers through the children of parents with a mental illness initiative and community mental health education.
However, there are some initiatives that will have a negative impact. These include the proposed closure of 39 schools; lack of clarity regarding the Commissioner for Children and Young People; tightening of eligibility criteria for public housing; cutting SAAP funding for homelessness services and the closure of some refuge accommodation, recognising that young people probably make up the greater proportion of clients in those areas; removal of $70,000 from the renew community infrastructure and facilities grant; lack of commitment to funding new initiatives in the alcohol and other drugs
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