Page 3046 - Week 08 - Thursday, 15 August 2019
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I now speak briefly on multicultural affairs. Budget paper 3 includes the word “multicultural” exactly three times, twice when pointing out that we have a Minister for Multicultural Affairs and once when indicating that the CSD has responsibility for multicultural affairs policies and services. That is it.
The detailed budget statement for the Community Services Directorate has only a few more mentions, half of which are in relation to the National Multicultural Festival. On this point, I note that, despite increased funding for this event, I have been informed that it still ran small deficits in 2018 and 2019. (Second speaking period taken.)
During estimates hearings, I asked the Minister for Multicultural Affairs which multicultural community groups or organisations he had consulted with prior to the ACT government making the decision to join the Welcoming Cities network. In response, I was told that this government was confident its decision would be supported without the need for any consultation. I would respectfully suggest that this response perfectly sums up how this government sees Canberra’s growing multicultural communities. Why stoop to consult when one already knows what people really want or need? This is the message that is increasingly being received by culturally and linguistically diverse Canberrans, and I see nothing in this budget to challenge that.
After 18 years of government, one would think that Labor would be doing better with community services. Instead, they have shown that they are incapable of handling even simple services. As a result, our vulnerable people have been forgotten. A government is no longer fit to govern when this is the case. Canberrans deserve better.
MRS JONES (Murrumbidgee) (4.51): Once again we are debating a budget which, for the women of the ACT, perhaps has not delivered all that it could have. It was put to me by a witness during the estimates hearings that the ACT budget is crafted and finalised, and then a process of reverse engineering is undertaken to see which policies may benefit women. Those are then announced for women. How many were specifically crafted for women? Where is the push to improve women’s safety? And not just at the margins, but genuinely taking practical steps to improve, for example, safety, such as by providing better and more street lighting or having a greater presence and availability of police on the beat and in our suburbs.
How about asking all of our ACT public service staff what they need in their workplace? How can we make their lives better? How can we improve work and life balance?
That being said, as a result of our discussions during estimates around this issue, I am working with the Minister for Women to advocate for better and more suitable breastfeeding and pumping facilities across the federal public service for mothers returning to work. I have been liaising with the minister’s office, and I expect that we will shortly be sending a joint letter to the federal Minister for Women, advocating for an audit and an improvement of the breastfeeding rooms and facilities across the APS in the ACT.
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