Page 788 - Week 02 - Thursday, 12 February 2009
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energy, water and sewerage, public transport, motor vehicle registration and drivers licences and spectacles.
The government will continue to investigate ways to improve the community access to concessions in the ACT. We will work with the community sector to continue to mitigate the impact of the global financial crisis and we look forward to working with them closely to support the vulnerable members of our community.
MR DOSZPOT (Brindabella) (3.50): Ms Bresnan has raised some very pertinent issues in her discussion of a matter of public importance today and I am pleased to participate in the debate. We are all aware of the global financial crisis. These three words have been possibly the most used in the English language in recent months and these words can, and have, instilled a sense of apprehension around the world. Indeed, they have also become the catchcry for this government to also use as an excuse at every possible budget-related opportunity.
It is difficult to reconcile that after much continued growth in our economy over the last 10 years there are now growing numbers of men and women from all walks of life who are finding it hard to make ends meet. This also includes self-funded retirees whose superannuation has been so drastically affected, and also those who may be looking at imminent retirement but may need to stay in their jobs a lot longer than they originally planned. The responsibility for us as legislators starts at the recognition stage.
We must acknowledge that the current economic crisis also impacts us as a social crisis. A social crisis has the propensity to create a tsunami of pressure on those who deliver our community services. I have here a report from Access Economics prepared in November last year titled, similarly to our MPI today, The impact of the global financial crisis on social services in Australia. The report outlines the origins of the global financial crisis, the impact on the real economy and the serious implications for our social services sector. The report also provides some ideas on future policy responses from government.
The Access Economics report calls for coordinated and collaborative processes that involve all levels of government and the social services sector. It concludes that investment in social services and social infrastructure should therefore be considered as an essential part of further fiscal stimulus measures. The commonwealth’s proposed stimulus package is supposed to be one of these fiscal stimulus measures, but we must question and scrutinise the coordination aspect of this approach in the ACT. We are also right to be concerned about the ability of the Stanhope-Gallagher government to deliver on these funds and ensure the funds are targeted appropriately.
It was indeed alarming for me as a newcomer to this place to hear Mr Hargreaves say during question time on Tuesday this week in response to Ms Bresnan’s question asking what advice the minister had received for applying the funds he was to receive for the Housing portfolio that he would prefer not to have the federal government put chains around his wrists in relation to the application of funds. I would have thought that, given the historical realities of this government’s management of projects and funds, Mr Hargreaves and this government would embrace some guidance on the application of these funds. And indeed, it would be appropriate to have certain
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