Page 3058 - Week 08 - Thursday, 15 August 2019
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or home ownership. The ACT government is also dedicated to raising the standards in social housing by continuing to renew 1,000 homes and add 200 new homes to the public housing portfolio.
The 2019-20 budget delivers on our commitment to support Canberrans who need it most. This government will always prioritise social inclusion within our community, because that is what makes us such a progressive and diverse city.
MS LAWDER (Brindabella) (5.34): I am pleased to note in this year’s budget an extension of the pensioner duty concession scheme, a proportionate increase in the available grant funding for seniors groups, and acknowledgement of the issue and funding towards combating elder abuse. But many of the items in the budget are not funded very far into the future, so there is not a lot of long-term commitment. We know—it is well documented and well talked about—that seniors have not been a priority of this ACT government.
On the pensioner duty concession scheme, I am pleased to see that the government has renewed this scheme for another year. The pensioner duty concession scheme assists eligible pensioners who own a residential home to move to accommodation more suited to their needs—for example, moving from a house to a townhouse—by reducing the conveyance duty payable on their purchase of a residential home or residential land.
We know that 12.5 per cent of Canberrans are over 65 years of age and that the percentage of older people is increasing as our population ages. We know from previous years that the number of people applying for the pensioner duty concession scheme is increasing every year. But the government has decided to only fund this program for one more year. Last year I asked why this program had only been extended for a year and was told: “The ACT Government is considering the Pensioner Duty Concession Scheme in the context of all Government programs and policies.” It is great to see this scheme temporarily extended, but it is clearly not a long-term priority of this government.
Inclusion and participation aim to strengthen the inclusion and participation of all people in our community, including seniors. This means community events, awards, ceremonies, grants and the administration and funding of community sector services and programs.
In budget statements G the government identified “supporting innovative projects that promote inclusion and social participation for seniors” and promoting Canberra as “an age-friendly city which enables and values the active participation of older members of the community” as strategic and operational priorities.
In this area, the government has removed many of the accountability indicators and goals from the output, so it is hard to understand what we are going to get information on next year. For example, whilst many indicators have been removed, the target number of the indicator “community building, participation grants and scholarship programs administered” has increased only by one in the same period, so it is going to be a challenge to understand where the money is being spent and on what. There has
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