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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 13 Hansard (25 November) . . Page.. 4619 ..

MS DUNDAS (continuing):

It does seem quite crazy and I think there is a lot of work to be done, especially in the planning of broader Belconnen and putting in the right facilities where they can be accessed. I think when we are developing new aged-care facilities we need also to be aware of the lack of provisions for couples and particularly, I point out, same-sex couples. When we are talking about the tripling of the population over the age of 65 between now and 2051, I think we also need to be looking at what that population wants, what it needs and how its lifestyle would have changed.

In 2051 I will be 73. We are not just talking about the baby boomers getting older. We are talking about generation X and the generations that follow generation X getting older. We are living in a highly technologically dependent society and we are living in a society that has a lot of different attitudes and awarenesses of what the community is and social policy issues that are not necessarily the same as they were 50 years ago. This needs to be taken into account in the development of aged-care facilities now and for the future.

Same-sex couples are part of the community now and they will be part of the aged community in the future. If we are committed to stamping out discrimination, then this commitment needs to extend the provision of aged-care facilities, and I hope the government takes that into account in the building of new aged-care facilities in the community.

MRS DUNNE (4.24): I would just like to go back to some of the things that were said by the Minister for Planning about the great progress that is being made, especially in relation to a subject that is near to my heart, and that is the Calvary aged care facility. I would like the minister to clarify the position for us. He said that the grant has been made and that work has been commenced. That seems to be in contrast to what was said in an answer to a question on notice last week. Calvary were saying that they expected to begin work in the second half of next year.

MR SPEAKER: The time for discussion has now expired.

Adjournment

Motion (by Mr Corbell ) proposed:

Student tourism awards

MR SMYTH (Leader of the Opposition) (4.24): Mr Speaker, I wish to bring to the attention of members of this place and the community an event that took place on 6 November at the University of Canberra-the inaugural student tourism awards. It is important that we honour Canberrans who are doing well in all sorts of fields but I think acknowledging students, in particular, is most worthwhile. The amount of support the tourism industry gave to these awards was interesting because, clearly, these will be participants of the industry into the future.

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