Page 1944 - Week 06 - Thursday, 9 June 2016
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This funding will lend a range of increased support services to assist victims of violence. I particularly note and welcome funding for the Domestic Violence Crisis Service, the Rape Crisis Centre and Legal Aid. Although it is certainly a major issue in our community, one concern is the restricting nature of the term “family violence”. We know that there are many in our community who experience violence at the hands of someone they know but where the offender is not a family member. For example, they could be a carer of a person with a disability. With sexual assault, approximately only 35 per cent of it is perpetrated in a family violence context, yet 79 per cent of victims know their offender. Whilst we support and applaud the current efforts, we draw attention to the fact that a significant proportion of those experiencing violence will still fall through the cracks. This is probably the area that needs to be addressed next; in particular, a disability justice strategy will need to be developed.
This is also a good budget for health services for the ACT, with a record $1.6 billion provided for infrastructure, doctors, nurses, staff and services. There is an additional $31 million for our emergency departments; $4.6 million for additional intensive care; $5.3 million to expand the trauma unit at the Canberra Hospital; and $2.1 million for a palliative care for children and young people expert, which is a sad thing but something our community needs. As our population is ageing, we have also invested $5 million for improved stroke services; $4.2 million for increased outpatient services; $1.3 million for people with Parkinson’s disease; and $1.3 million for endoscopy.
This budget continues the government’s investment in mental health, with another $50 million appropriated, including $43.4 million for staffing the secure mental health unit, an item prioritised in the parliamentary agreement and due to open later this year. The funding also, importantly, includes an adult step-up, step-down service.
Turning to housing, as a progressive government we are continuing to invest in new public housing properties. Although the Greens continue to be concerned about the level of public housing being provided, we are very pleased that the government has taken this opportunity to firmly invest more than $300 million in new, energy-efficient dwellings, meaning that the people that are least able to pay expensive heating and cooling bills will have lower energy bills in modern housing, a better quality of life and a more comfortable home to live in.
There is a clear gap, which the Greens have raised many times over the years, between people who are eligible for public housing and those who must pay for private rentals but are on low incomes. This is an outstanding issue which needs a range of responses to solve. The government has invested seed funding in this budget for homes for homes, which we hope is a successful program to help low income and vulnerable people into affordable housing. Unfortunately, we are no longer well supported nationally by peak housing and homelessness organisations such as the Community Housing Federation of Australia and Homelessness Australia, who were able to offer policy support in this area. This is a result of the federal budget cuts, meaning that these important organisations are no longer providing the policy advice that we need here in the ACT.
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