Page 2916 - Week 10 - Thursday, 7 October 2021
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(iii) be underpinned by the ACT Wellbeing Framework, with a particular focus on living standards, access and connectivity and social connection;
(iv) create a roadmap to rebuild Canberra’s social fabric, through the safe re-introduction of events, recreational and sporting activities and educational and volunteering opportunities, with a focus on community building and inclusion;
(v) specify regular opportunities for revision with feedback from key stakeholder groups; and
(vi) identify the government programs through which these strategies could be funded and implemented;
(b) provide quarterly reports to the Assembly on the development and implementation of the ACT Social Recovery Plan; and
(c) incorporate the relevant findings from the agreed update to the ACT’s Targeted Assistance Strategy and associated targeted concession assistance measures, including the current rates concessions, rebates and deferments system; and
(d) identify any further measures required to ensure concessions and rebates are adequate and well-targeted, with input from relevant community organisations working to support people in the community; and
(3) calls on the leaders of all parties represented in the Assembly to write to the Federal leaders of their respective political parties calling for an increase to and an indexation of all social security payments so that these are above the Henderson Poverty Line. Copies of these letters shall be tabled in the Assembly by 11 November 2021.
It is a sad and difficult fact that the pandemic has disproportionately affected the most marginalised groups in our society. In almost all cases, Australians are doing it tough, but those who are already doing it tough are doing it harder: economically, socially and psychologically. Across the board, the people least able to cope have shouldered the brunt of the burden of COVID-19: the unemployed, Indigenous communities, people with disability, women, young people, precarious workers, and people of migrant and refugee background. These are the people who have lost their jobs, while facing increased expenses, stress and isolation.
I will go through some of these sectors now, just to explore this further. People with disability have described their experience of the pandemic as expensive, isolating and lonely. For those who have not been able to get vaccinated, whether for health or access reasons, they are facing the opening up period with a lot of justified fear and anxiety.
Migrant workers were among the most vulnerable groups before the pandemic, as many work in temporary, casual or informal employment that is both poorly paid and poorly protected. Recent reports also suggest that racism, particularly verbal abuse, has flared up again, once again making people feel unsafe, excluded and like they do not belong in our community.
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