Page 3155 - Week 10 - Thursday, 15 August 2013
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The scholarships are aimed at overcoming some of the identified barriers to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people completing tertiary study as well as encouraging more Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people into such areas as the childcare or health sector to enhance delivery of culturally appropriate services.
To supplement this, an extra $400,000 will be provided over four years to expand on the existing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education scholarship for ACT Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander secondary students who wish to pursue a career in health.
In addition the budget contains significant funding for several other initiatives under other ministers which will have a direct and positive impact on the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people residing in the ACT. These include the expansion of the appointment of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander official visitors scheme, and the implementation of a microcredit program and advice service which will provide interest and fee-free loans to eligible low income earners who want to start or expand small business activities. The ACT government remains committed to helping the local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities to achieve their goals, both individually and collectively.
Briefly on ageing, Canberra’s ageing population is seeing governments rethink our funding for related services, including health, accommodation and transport. In order to advance our thinking and approaches on making our community more age-friendly, the ACT will host the inaugural Australian age-friendly cities and communities conference on 9 October this year. This is an opportunity to further engage with older Canberrans in the lead-up to the older persons assemblies that will be held in 2014-15 and 2016-17, to share information and learn from other Australian age-friendly communities, and gain an insight into international initiatives.
The government acknowledges the importance of providing older Canberrans with adequate transport options, especially when they have lost the ability to drive or the financial resources to maintain a private vehicle. The budget will provide $620,000 over four years to allow for the qualifying age for an ACTION gold card to be reduced from 75 to 70. To put this in real terms, this will provide free bus travel to an additional 9,000 older Canberrans, lowering their cost of living and increasing their likelihood of staying mobile and socially active and connected.
Providing ACT seniors with access to appropriate and affordable housing is a key priority for the government. This year $290,000 was allocated for design options for 20 new aged-specific units for older public housing tenants that want to downsize from larger public housing properties and relocate to more appropriate and suitable housing that better suits their needs and age. This will free up the larger homes for housing families on the priority and high needs social housing register.
They are the specific issues in this budget that I believe are making a key difference in these important areas of policy.
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