Page 1465 - Week 08 - Tuesday, 26 September 1989
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that that has been the case. They have been much better integrated under the umbrella of HACC.
Mention has already been made by previous speakers of a number of programs which are worthy of mention for their good work. My colleague Mrs Nolan has referred to some of them. One program that she did not mention was Meals on Wheels. It surprised me she did not mention it because I note in the statement that Meals on Wheels in Tuggeranong receives additional grants, and a grant of some $18,000 for capital expenditure and running costs for the van used for the new service down there of about $3,500 a year. I thought that the various members for Tuggeranong in this chamber would be competing for the right to mention that, but since they have not done so I will do so.
I think that Red Cross Meals on Wheels and the ACT home help service and so on all exhibit one particular feature. That feature, which struck me very sharply when I read the statement, was that these are all groups involved very much in self-help. They are not the sorts of organisations that sit around absorbed in their next submission for a welfare handout. They are groups that actually get out there and organise to get volunteers working to provide the services that they believe are important in this community, and they deserve congratulations for that. They are important things and they actually do something about it.
Obviously, the funding that they receive is a great help to them, and I would not dream of denying it to them, but I am very pleased to see that they are the sort of people that do not rely wholly on that funding but very much get out there and work to provide the services, at least from their own resources in part. I hope that this sort of thing continues and that we have the same level of enthusiasm that must generate a lot of support for these organisations.
I have had correspondence from at least one organisation that is concerned about its level of funding under this program, and that is the Arthritis Foundation. I am not sure what issues have been addressed already by the Minister in this respect. I hope that it, like the others I have mentioned, is able to provide a service through its own endeavours and, if possible, through a level of funding which is reasonable. I certainly look forward to seeing the work of some of these organisations, to the extent that I have not already done so, as far as they assist in providing important services to the people of Canberra.
MR COLLAERY (9.21): Briefly, Mr Speaker, I rise on one point only in relation to this debate and that is the Minister's proposal to re-establish the HACC advisory committee. I draw to the attention of the Minister, if he is not already aware of it, the very strong interest of the veterans groups in the ACT, particularly the totally and permanently incapacitated groups, in being restored to their proper place on that advisory committee. The
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