Page 3958 - Week 11 - Wednesday, 20 September 2017
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Our community here in Canberra does a lot to ensure that our differences are embraced and celebrated. A motion on community inclusion was brought forward in the Assembly by Mr Steel on 29 March this year. Today’s motion and some of the speeches on the motion have some similarities to that motion. All of us here agree that Canberra is a proudly diverse community, with a rich collection of people from different cultural and linguistic backgrounds, belief systems, sexual orientations and social and economic demographics, and that the whole ACT community is stronger when every person has a sense of belonging, feels supported and is able to contribute to their full capacity, absolutely.
I am proud that in a previous working life I was an advocate for people who otherwise may have been without a voice in our community. This motion is an extension of that. It is absolutely imperative to support our LGBTIQ community. There has been quite a bit of debate about that already. This motion, in item 3, states:
… recognises that the ACT government is already taking practical steps to promote an inclusive and supportive community …
That is true; yet, according to an ACTCOSS fact sheet of June 2017, 12.6 per cent or 28,639 of all ACT residents are in the most disadvantaged 20 per cent of Australians. It states:
… figures that measure disadvantage at area level conceal the disadvantage of many of these people, who accordingly do not live in disadvantaged areas.
The fact sheet also states:
Cost of living pressures for those on low income in the ACT rose over the past year. The consumer price index … rose 1.8 per cent—higher than the national average of 1.5 per cent; the selected living index (SLCI) for other government transfer recipient (1.8%) and age pensioner (1.6%) households was also above the national CPI; while the SLCI for both employee (1.0%) and self-funded retiree (1.4%) households was below the national CPI figure. In sum, the general cost of living in the ACT increased above the national rate while the cost of living for low income households rose at a higher level than other households.
This motion, in item 3, “recognises that the ACT government is already taking practical steps to promote an inclusive and supportive community”, yet an article in yesterday’s Canberra Times states:
Young Canberrans with high needs could be locked out of respite care by Christmas unless a last-minute solution is found to “critical” funding shortfalls …
Families who spoke to The Canberra Times said they had been left in limbo ever since, unable to find other providers to take on their children once the changes kick in on October 26.
Item 3 of the motion “recognises that the ACT government is already taking practical steps to promote an inclusive and supportive community”, yet earlier this year, in February, an article in the Canberra Times stated:
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