Page 3050 - Week 08 - Thursday, 15 August 2019
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and retirement facilities. The program has been underway since the 2015-16 financial year and funding is continuing in this budget. We will be increasing the number of suburbs that receive age-friendly upgrades to ensure that our seniors can move around their suburbs safely. I commend Minister Steel for his work in this area.
This benefits the whole community because these upgrades not only support our older Canberrans but also provide good quality pathways for people on bikes and clear crossings for the mobility impaired. This helps people of all ages and all levels of mobility to move around the city with ease.
The government is committed to a strong transport system, as transport is key to connecting senior Canberrans across our community. The flexible bus service assists those who are socially isolated to engage in community events by providing them with much-needed transport. The service supports the aged or people with a mobility difficulty through its fleet of minibuses, which are wheelchair accessible.
We are also aware that much of the good work to support seniors takes place within the community. In the past year our grants programs have provided significant assistance for groups and organisations supporting older Canberrans. Under our seniors grants program, funding was provided to organisations such as the ACT Disability, Aged and Carer Advocacy Service, ADACAS, to deliver an elder abuse prevention and safeguard project, to COTA for the Hughes community garden, and to Legal Aid ACT for an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander elder abuse consultation process.
The government recognises the immense capacity of mature workers and understands the need for them to be provided with unique support so that they can upskill and fill key roles in workplaces across the Canberra region. The ACT government’s mature workers grants program funds projects that assist mature workers and employers to navigate the range of upskilling and reskilling opportunities and associated financial, learning and job-seeking supports.
Two projects are currently funded under the mature workers grants program. The CIT Mature Workers Support Service provides high quality, individual case management services to assist mature workers to overcome barriers to participation in and successful completion of reskilling and upskilling opportunities, and facilitates the matching of mature students with employment and training opportunities in the ACT tourism industry.
The Canberra Business Chamber mature age workers in tourism project aims to place at least 40 mature workers in employment in the ACT tourism sector. This project draws on the experience of business leaders who have successfully employed mature workers and recognise the benefits of a diverse workforce. Senior Canberrans can also benefit from digital training sessions offered by Libraries ACT, in addition to free access to computers, internet and wi-fi at our public libraries.
The government not only wants to help older Canberrans; it wants to recognise their enormous contribution. Each year we acknowledge the long-term contributions of people who have lived in Canberra for 50 years or more, with the Chief Minister’s
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