Page 1113 - Week 04 - Tuesday, 5 April 2016
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
That is a quotation from as recently as today’s paper. The government spruik the concept of valuing the ideas of our young people, yet their complete lack of consultation and communication proves that they have absolutely no interest in valuing any opinion other than those who agree with their out of touch perspective.
In the Youth Coalition’s 2016-17 budget consultation response they indicated that there was—I quote again, this time from the Youth Coalition’s report—“a clear level of frustration, particularly from community sector workers with the inconsistency and/or inequity in funding arrangements as well as a lack of big picture or whole-of-community view”.
I will repeat that last bit again: it states that there is a lack of “whole-of-community view”. That statement comes from young people and people involved in working in the youth sector within the ACT. Yet signals from those opposite in the Labor and Greens government continue to be more lip-service. When looking at Mr Barr’s recent state of the territory speech just last week, even the ACT Council of Social Service was critical of the Chief Minister’s approach stating that they are, “not keen at all on the generational divide and conflict being spruiked by Andrew Barr at his state of the territory address”.
So it seems that even the peak body for social services in this territory is having great difficulty trying to understand the age bias that this Chief Minister is promoting and the lack of vision for all Canberrans. His vision for this city, a city of ambition and advantage, is for the few. It is for the three per cent that would benefit from projects such as light rail. It is for the minorities that can afford their sparkling water at their expensive city restaurants. It is for the elitist few. It is not for families who are struggling with the cost of living and it is certainly not for young people who are finding it difficult to make ends meet or to get a start in life as adults.
Lip-service and marketing are all that this government is willing to invest in our youth, believing that they are naive enough to accept this. Our youth want practical approaches and practical solutions from a government that has spent years underestimating their value. Creating a city for Canberra’s young people and community as a whole is not lost on the Canberra Liberals. However, it is certainly something that was lost a long, long time ago by those opposite in the Labor and Greens government.
You only need to look as recently as last week at the transport proposal that was put forward by the Canberra Liberals that is overwhelmingly encouraging and overwhelmingly accessible for all Canberrans, regardless of age, regardless of gender, regardless of ancestry, regardless of culture. It is a bus system that would service all of Canberra, unlike the proposal that has been put forward by those opposite that seeks to benefit just the very few.
MS BERRY (Ginninderra—Minister for Housing, Community Services and Social Inclusion, Minister for Multicultural and Youth Affairs, Minister for Sport and Recreation and Minister for Women) (3.36): As the minister with responsibility for youth engagement, I appreciate the opportunity to talk about this important issue of creating a city for Canberra’s young people and valuing their ideas.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video