Page 2510 - Week 08 - Thursday, 30 August 2007
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The ACT government is committed to assisting refugees in our community in every capacity available. This includes the provision of free medical care at our two public hospitals, as well as the same access to the ACT’s public dental and community health services as healthcare concession card holders, and assistance with housing and support through the Refugee Coordination Committee, which is coordinated by the ACT Office of Multicultural, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs. To help refugees undertake English language classes, the ACT government provides free childcare for parents while they study at the Canberra Institute of Technology.
Each year, the ACT government enhances and supports creativity, cultural awareness and language protection in our multicultural sector through the community grants program. Multicultural community groups are able to apply for grants under three areas of the program, including radio, languages and multicultural. In 2006-07, a total of $250,000 was provided to more than 150 multicultural community groups.
Mr Speaker, as you may know, the Department of Immigration and Citizenship, through the settlement grants program, provides funding to assist humanitarian entrants and migrants to settle in Australia. But did you also know that in the 2007-08 funding round the migrant resource centre has only been granted $155,817 for one year under SGP funding? The federal government has cut the funding by 50 per cent compared to the previous grant of $301,825. I wonder whether Mr Pratt supports this move by his colleagues in the federal Liberal government. I wonder whether he has written to Minister Andrews asking for the funding to be returned. I certainly told the federal minister my thoughts on this very disappointing decision at the recent ministerial conference held in Townsville in June this year. The staff and board of the MRC have been working hard in seeking options for improved management under current lower funding levels and the best way forward for current programs under these new, restrictive conditions.
The ACT government provides funding to the MRC through various projects, including $36,000 for the program for after-school studies from the Office of Children, Youth and Family Services; community development funding of $68,420 for the coordination of the community development program; $15,00 from the Department of Education and Training for an adult community education grant to access English for living language modules; $1,000 in multicultural grants to provide information sessions for Sudanese men; and an ACT women’s grant worth $10,000 providing a program for spouses married to Australian men. Also, an ACT seniors grant of $5,000 provided through an ACT seniors grant aims to reduce isolation by running a program through which seniors can write stories for the Immigration Bridge booklets.
Under the enhancing the multicultural sector projects funding, the MRC received funding for two projects: $10,000 to provide opportunities for English language classes; and $5,000 for a pre-employment project—a “job prep program”. We have a multicultural youth forum. I explained the other day the massive successes that came out of that and the young people who are driving it. We have also done projects on enhancing the multicultural community, and I mentioned the seven projects there.
We have an enormous amount to be proud of in terms of our multicultural community. I have attended a number of functions in recent times. We are all about capacity
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