Page 2636 - Week 09 - Thursday, 16 September 2021
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and calls for more structural support for the services that work so closely with these communities.
It is devastating to me and my ACT Greens colleagues that the most recent COVID-19 outbreak has disproportionately impacted those experiencing marginalisation, discrimination and poverty in Canberra. This knowledge has had my Greens ministerial colleagues working day in and day out fighting for the rights and safety of marginalised people. Some of the most important interventions we have been able to achieve include closely supporting people quarantining in public and community housing, implementing an evictions moratorium and increasing the capacity of much-needed mental health services through new funding. We have been able to achieve these things because the ACT Greens hold strong strategic partnerships with the ACT community sector.
We know that what is unfolding in Canberra has been replicated across Australia and around the world. The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare last week released their report into the direct and indirect health effects of the first year of COVID-19 in Australia. This research found that there were almost four times as many deaths due to COVID-19 among people in Australia from the lower socio-economic group compared to those from the highest group.
Evidence from other countries has shown the increased risk of developing COVID-19 and dying from it from those in low socio-economic groups. The explanation for this is complex, but it boils down to this: without enough money to live on, people are forced into precarious positions. They live closer together, they take on riskier work outside of the home and they have to leave their houses to meet their basic needs, such as grocery shopping. Would you believe that there is no home delivery for a shop under $50 at Woolies or Coles? People in these groups are also more likely, unjustly, to experience comorbidities from COVID-19.
What this situation underlines is that Canberra is a diverse and complex city filled with different communities of many varied different needs. Despite how we are portrayed, we are not a city of the white middle classes and our responses cannot be limited to these groups. I am proud to be a Green member of this Assembly. I am proud to represent a party that, at its core, has a commitment to social justice. It is absolutely clear that social and economic inequality is not only a social justice but clearly a public health risk. The public health crisis unfolding in the city is most definitely a social justice crisis too.
The ACT community sector has been as integral to supporting disadvantaged communities throughout this pandemic just as they have been integral to supporting these communities prior to it. These organisations have been operating at 200 per cent since the ACT went into lockdown as they provide frontline services, advocate for their communities in crisis and provide lifesaving, targeted and effective public health information.
According to Emma Campbell, the CEO of the ACT Council of Social Service: “Responding to this outbreak has required sensitive and deep connection to the communities most impacted by this virus. I extend my sincere thanks to every
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