Page 2556 - Week 09 - Tuesday, 6 August 2013
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Labor politics. It is interesting and perhaps instructive that the ACT Labor Party are the only state Labor Party organisation that collect revenue from the most needy and desperate in the community through gambling and channel back a mere percentage of it to community works and have the audacity to brag about it. If they were genuine they would give back 100 per cent of their gambling revenue and do what other state Labor organisations do, and not have social clubs. But we will never see that, I should think. (Time expired)
MR BARR (Molonglo—Deputy Chief Minister, Treasurer, Minister for Economic Development, Minister for Sport and Recreation, Minister for Tourism and Events and Minister for Community Services) (4.46): Mr Assistant Speaker Gentleman, I thank you very much for raising this matter in the Assembly today. It is indeed a well-timed debate. There is certainly renewed interest in how government, the private sector and the community sector can work together to achieve better outcomes for everyone in the community.
As noted in your contribution, I had the great pleasure of taking part in a round table last month to discuss new ways of creating philanthropic partnerships in our city. I am interested in contributing to this conversation about how to improve our community with two objectives: firstly, making sure that the community gets the best value out of our people and our organisations and, importantly, their skills and resources; and, secondly, to provide support for innovative new models to ensure that we can best get the resources to those in our community who need them the most.
As you noted in your contribution, Mr Assistant Speaker, philanthropy is traditionally associated with the giving of money. But, more recently, it has broadened to include volunteering, the transfer of skills, particularly from the business sector into the not-for-profit sector and, interestingly, emerging tripartite collaborations between business, government and the community sector.
As I have outlined on several occasions in this place, there are significant challenges confronting our community. Those challenges are largely in the economic sphere but not exclusively. Economic growth in all of our advanced economies continues to be uncertain, and we are not immune to what is occurring in the rest of Australia and around the world. The capacity for governments through their budgets to provide for the ongoing growth in services and service needs within the community is challenging, and the ACT budget certainly faces issues of sustainability in the longer term.
Our population is ageing and demand for services is rising, but revenue growth is uncertain. In the community sector we are embarking on a period of significant change. The advent of DisabilityCare is indeed transformational, as you noted, Mr Assistant Speaker. Investments at a territory level and nationally will certainly lead to a marked improvement in the lives of people with a disability. These issues present challenges and opportunities, not just for governments but for communities.
Our approach must be to engage in cross-sectoral conversations about how all sectors can contribute to improving the quality of life for our community, and particularly improving the lives of the most vulnerable.
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