Page 1383 - Week 05 - Tuesday, 9 April 2013
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
But the day tomorrow is also about celebrating the resilience of young people. As we will see tomorrow, the day is a positive chance to convey a message that young people experiencing homelessness are homeless, but not helpless. Youth Homelessness Matters Day aims to communicate that with good support, positive inclusion and stable accommodation, young people can move forward and live their lives productively.
I would like to take a moment here to acknowledge the hard work of the Community Services Directorate in their recent efforts to develop new ways to deal with some old issues. The ACT Youth Homelessness Matters Day event will involve the launch of artworks created by young people experiencing homelessness in a series of art workshops that were held in March and April and were facilitated by Megalo print studio. Young people accessing homelessness services attended these workshops and worked towards telling the story of their experience of homelessness through art.
Tomorrow, at 12.30 in the reception room at the Assembly, I will be honoured to launch this year’s Youth Homelessness Matters Day, which has the theme “Tell your story”. I am sincerely looking forward to listening to the young people who will be presenting their art and telling their story. I gather Mr Wall will be there, and I would encourage other members to come along and support this event. I think it is going to be very interesting and quite informative for those of us who perhaps could really do with hearing more about the stories of some of these young people.
Diversity ACT—twilight fair
MR GENTLEMAN (Brindabella) (4.32): I rise tonight to talk to the Assembly about a fantastic event I attended a few Saturdays ago, on 23 March, the twilight fair of Diversity ACT. Diversity ACT was opened last year, with sponsorship from the ACT government. Diversity ACT provided a hub for diversity in Kambah, and whilst the building was run down a bit, Diversity was able to obtain sponsorship from Masters Home Improvement and various other Canberra businesses to bring the property up to scratch and allow the operation of its establishment.
Diversity ACT was established in August last year by Ian Goudie as the community organisation to encompass all of the community services provided to the GLBTIQ community. The ACT government provided a $90,000 grant to assist with the start-up costs. The months have passed and the support line provided by Diversity has received over 150 calls since its establishment.
The event a few Saturdays ago was opened by the member for Canberra, Gai Brodtmann, and our Chief Minister, Katy Gallagher. It was also attended by Andrew Barr, Joy Burch and me. There were about 50 stalls at the fair and we had about 1,700 people attend during the whole day. It was a fantastic operation. I think I could describe Diversity as an inviting, an inclusive and a friendly organisation, to say the least. It was a very enjoyable event.
I would like to acknowledge of course that Diversity is auspiced by Northside Community Services. Its major sponsors are Cube Nightclub, Elringtons lawyers, LJ
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video