Page 3429 - Week 11 - Wednesday, 22 October 2014
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constituents concerned about the build-up of traffic outside schools. There is a challenge for us there to encourage more people to think about whether they do need to take the vehicle to school all the time or whether we can make it possible that they need to take their vehicle less often. I look forward to working with Minister Burch as, between TAMS and the Environment Directorate, we seek to tackle that very tricky problem that increasingly arises.
The ACT has long been an innovative hub for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander affairs. Again, as well as having ministerial responsibility, this is an area of personal interest. The ACT is the only jurisdiction to have an elected Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander representative body. It plays an important advisory role for government. The elected body is now in its third term. Like the ACT with self-government, these organisations mature and grow with time. I think that this term particularly the elected body is really going to come into its own. It has already played an important part in advising government. I can see through its evolution that it is becoming a more and more important part of ensuring that the more than 6,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the ACT get the best possible opportunities.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Canberrans often achieve much better life outcomes than elsewhere in Australia. That is something we should be proud of, but something we must continue to improve. The ACT leads the nation in a number of closing the gap targets. Certainly, the 2013 report found that, when compared nationally, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Canberrans are more likely to have higher levels of education and training, greater participation in the workforce, lower rates of unemployment and to own or be purchasing a home.
It also found that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Canberrans access health services less frequently than those in most other jurisdictions and that we have many people coming from the surrounding region to use ACT services and programs. What this set of statistics tells me is that, as I said, we have an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community in Canberra who are generally doing better than their fellows around the country. What we do know, however, is that they are still not doing as well as the rest of the community in general. That is an area where we must strive to continue helping Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people achieve their goals both individually and collectively.
I was going to touch on arts and culture. We have a separate space for a discussion about that later today so I might save my remarks. I will just comment on the fact that we have a wonderful arts and culture sector here in the ACT in terms of both our national institutions and, of course, our local arts and culture scene. I reject Mr Hanson’s characterisation of it. There is a tremendous diversity in the community. Not all of it appeals to me, and clearly not all of it appeals to Mr Hanson and his colleagues, but that is the joy of arts and culture.
It is, at a time like this, worth reflecting on the global context. By any measure Canberra is a city that is outstanding on a global measure. I become concerned when I hear people talking this city down, as Mr Hanson did today. As Mr Hanson spoke, I was not actually convinced that we lived in the same town; it was hard to believe. If one reflects on the quality of life in Canberra in any sort of global context, the OECD figures tell it to us, but we all know it.
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