Page 576 - Week 02 - Wednesday, 19 March 2014
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
MS BURCH (Brindabella—Minister for Education and Training, Minister for Disability, Children and Young People, Minister for the Arts, Minister for Women, Minister for Multicultural Affairs and Minister for Racing and Gaming) (6.16): I seek leave to move the amendments circulated in my name together.
Leave granted.
MS BURCH: I move:
(1) Omit paragraph (1)(c).
(2) Omit paragraph (1)(d), substitute:
“(d) the increase in demand for services at Gugan Gulwan from both Indigenous and non-Indigenous youth; and”.
(3) Omit paragraph (2), substitute:
“(2) calls on the ACT Government to continue to investigate options for providing additional space for the Gugan Gulwan Youth Aboriginal Corporation and report on the results of this investigation to the Assembly by the end of April 2014.”.
I think there is general agreement in here of the worthiness of Gugan Gulwan as an organisation, the work they do and their requirements for additional space. The amendments to this motion clarify what, hopefully, was not an outright negative political statement around the youth programs. That was what prompted me to move these amendments.
In regard to the youth support provision, in 2011-12 the focus of youth support in the ACT was, indeed, changed. But the youth services were not withdrawn; rather, these changes resulted in the delivery of more purposeful services for vulnerable young people in our community, those who have the greatest need for service providers.
Under the new child, youth and family service program, funding was provided for youth engagement with the explicit intent of expanding the number of youth workers across the sector to ensure that sufficient drop-in hours were available. Additional funding of $1.2 million was committed to support youth engagement and programs in the ACT. This is the government delivering on its election commitments and on our parliamentary agreement.
Under the new child, youth and family support framework implemented from March of 2012, the majority of youth centres continue to operate in some capacity and provide targeted programs for vulnerable young people. The youth engagement services are being delivered to vulnerable young people who are disengaged or at risk of disengaging from families and other services, including education.
Those services are provided across the four network areas and are run by the Woden Community Service, Southside Community Services, Anglicare ACT, the Belconnen
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video