Page 2710 - Week 08 - Tuesday, 23 June 2009
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MS PORTER (Ginninderra) (4.07): I would like to thank Mr Smyth for raising this issue. This side of the house recognises the importance of providing quality services for all Canberrans, irrespective of their age, income status or, indeed, geographic location. I think anyone with any doubt about that had only to listen to the Chief Minister’s tabling report on the implementation of The Canberra Plan: towards our second century. There are many examples of the good work the ACT government is doing to provide services and facilities to residents of west Belconnen, one group of outer suburbs in my electorate.
As a person who was on the original steering committee and a patron of the West Belconnen Health Cooperative, I was very pleased to see the Department of Disability, Housing and Community Services, through the 2008-09 budget, provide $220,000 to assist fit-out of the West Belconnen Health Cooperative, matching commonwealth funding. As we know, the cooperative model will look at preventive health measures, including nutrition, exercise, mental health as well counselling and advice services. Local residents will be invited to become members of the cooperative and have their say in the running of the centre. It will incorporate health promotion, preventive health, early intervention, social services for families in west Belconnen. It is anticipated that service will be operating in late 2009.
On our ongoing commitment to provide services for children and young people where they are needed, west Belconnen has been chosen as the site of the third child and family centre in Canberra. A national partnership with the Indigenous early childhood development program has been created, which will enable the establishment and operation, in the west Belconnen area, of an integrated child and family centre. This is an area of Canberra with a high Indigenous population and an area that would benefit from this service.
Consultations with parents and local community providers have been completed in order to determine what services are required and how they should be delivered and to identify gaps. Ongoing consultation will occur with parents and the local community providers over the course of the next six months. Specific consultation with local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island children and families will continue to inform and design program delivery.
The new centre will draw on the lessons learnt and the expertise gained from the well-established child and family centres in Gungahlin and Tuggeranong. It will reflect the working model of service delivery in Gungahlin and Tuggeranong to deliver services tailored to the changing needs of the community in west Belconnen. The child and family centre model is recognised as the best-practice approach in the area of early intervention, with the capacity to offer a skilled and professional workforce which is able to undertake timely interventions. The Department of Disability, Housing and Community Services also funds a number of family and youth support programs which are located regionally throughout the ACT to support children and young people and their families.
As you know, I maintain a strong interest in the quality of services that this government provides the ministry of education. We on this side of the house do not
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