Page 3955 - Week 11 - Wednesday, 20 September 2017
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equity and equality. This is a really interesting discussion that happens in a number of places, and members who have taken the opportunity to search this online will perhaps have seen the very famous cartoon or graphic with three people behind a fence attempting to watch a baseball game. If you have never taken the opportunity to simply Google “equality versus equity”—it is the key image that comes up. I think it is a very powerful image and it conveys some ideas.
I took the opportunity, in light of Mr Parton’s comments, to do that, and I picked up a quote from a lady called Amy Sun, who wrote an article; it is findable on the internet. She says:
Equity and equality are two strategies we can use in an effort to produce fairness.
Equity is giving everyone what they need to be successful. Equality is treating everyone the same.
Equality aims to promote fairness, but it can only work if everyone starts from the same place and needs the same help.
That is why the Greens reject the analysis that Mr Parton put forward in the very simplistic way he put it today, because these problems are more complex. We cannot use simple labels to deal with these very challenging questions. We cannot simply say, “This group of people or this group of people.” We need to look at some of these policy challenges through careful filters to identify the responses that government can put in place to address some of the inequity issues that exist in our community. We will not be able to support this amendment. When we think about some of these policy questions, the way we try to think about them is to think about that distinction between those two labels and what it can mean in terms of policy application. So we will not be supporting the amendment; we will be supporting the motion brought forward by Ms Cheyne.
MR BARR (Kurrajong—Chief Minister, Treasurer, Minister for Economic Development and Minister for Tourism and Major Events) (11.54): I thank Ms Cheyne for bringing this motion forward today. It has led to an interesting debate. I will commence my remarks in the spirit of tripartisanship and thank all members for their support, it would appear, of large parts of the motion before us.
I note that Mr Parton’s amendment does not seek to touch on parts 1, 2 and 3 of Ms Cheyne’s motion, so I think we can take from that, at least for parts 1 and 2, a recognition across all parties and by all members in this chamber that we seek to achieve a diverse community that supports people of different cultural and linguistic backgrounds, belief systems, social and economic demographies, sexual orientations and the like, and that we acknowledge that the community is stronger if everyone has a sense of belonging, feels supported and is able to contribute to their full capacity.
The motion notes a range of important initiatives contained within the recent territory budget that go to providing additional support or continuation of longstanding programs of support for a number of Canberrans, who are outlined in parts 2(a) through (j). Part 3 of the motion highlights a range of practical programs that the
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