Page 3203 - Week 10 - Thursday, 16 September 1993
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MR BERRY: It would not be sufficient to contract out that function. It just would not be adequate. Gary Humphries butts in and says, "That is why you are doing it - only because you signed the Medicare agreement". We gave the commitment before the last election. You should have had your eyes and ears open and you would have seen it. The same thing applies to professional boards here in the ACT. Our updating of all boards legislation complies with our commitment to mutual recognition across the country.
A bit of reality from the Canberra Times would help. This does not help the community at all, in my view. This sort of misinformation paints an inadequate picture of what is going on in government. I appreciate objective criticism by the Canberra Times, but I do not cop this stuff.
Aged Persons Accommodation
MR KAINE: I put a question to the Chief Minister. The Chief Minister over the last two to three years has claimed repeatedly how dedicated she is to the needs of the increasingly ageing population in the ACT. As recently as yesterday, in her response to the Social Policy Committee's report on the ageing, she said:
Appropriate accommodation for the aged is a high priority.
I have been through Tuesday's budget and I have difficulty finding any provision for a convalescent unit or for any accommodation or facilities for people suffering from Alzheimer's disease, and I can find no provision even for respite care for those who are looking after these people all the time. Perhaps it is obscured in the forward design list for future years, but I could not find it there either. Perhaps the Chief Minister can tell us how her budget reflects the fact that appropriate accommodation for the ageing is a high priority for this Government.
MS FOLLETT: Through the Housing Trust the Government has continued to provide appropriate accommodation for older people in the ACT. Members will be aware that our Housing Trust program this year is maintained at high levels. A priority within the Housing Trust for accommodation for older people is to ensure that they can remain, if it is at all possible, in the area where their family home was. I have visited a great number of the Housing Trust developments where that is precisely what has happened. The Housing Trust has provided aged persons units in the older suburbs of Canberra and made them available to the older tenants of the Housing Trust. That work will continue, and I think it is entirely appropriate that it does continue.
Mr Kaine has raised the question of dementia sufferers. As I reported to the Assembly yesterday, that is an issue we are discussing with the Commonwealth. We need the Commonwealth's assistance to go ahead with it because they generally fund such facilities. Mr Kaine knows that, I am quite sure.
For those older people who wish to remain in their own homes, the Government in this budget is proposing to make the deferment of their rates more attractive. I think this is a further sign that we understand and appreciate some of the housing difficulties that older people have. For example, we will be allowing pensioners to defer their rates at the concessional level rather than at the full level, as was previously the case. We have also lowered the interest charged on
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