Page 3056 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 17 October 2007
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means hard choices, not just juggling to pay bills but deciding to skip a meal in order to pay for petrol or to pay for a prescription at the chemist. Families in financial stress may be unable to heat their house and cannot pay bills in time or be able to provide a school lunch for their children. Even getting children to school can be restricted as parents are not able to afford the transport costs to get there.
The reality for Canberrans living in poverty is that their disadvantage is compounded by the wealth of the ACT. It means that, as a result of inadequate income and resources, they may be excluded and marginalised from participating in activities which are considered the norm for other people in society. The ACT’s highest cost of living, lack of access to everyday commodities such as internet and transport, and safe and secure housing increase social isolation and alienation, particularly for young people.
The 2006 census data show that there are pockets of disadvantage and poverty within the ACT. In 2002, the National Centre for Social and Economic Modelling identified approximately 24,000 people living in poverty in the ACT. This data continues to drive our policy and service provision reform.
The ACT marks Anti-Poverty Week with a range of local events, all of which highlight our work in alleviating poverty stress experienced by Canberrans. Anti-Poverty Week was established in Australia as an expansion of the United Nations annual International Anti-Poverty Day on 17 October. The main aims of Anti-Poverty Week are to strengthen public understanding of the causes and consequences of poverty and hardship around the world and in Australia, and encourage research, discussion and action to address these problems, including actions by individuals, communities, organisations and governments.
The government is committed to addressing the causes and effects of poverty in a rigorous and sustainable way. The Canberra social plan is the government’s comprehensive and accountable policy agenda of addressing disadvantage in partnership with the community. Specifically, the social plan is committed to reducing long-term unemployment, decreasing income inequality, reducing homelessness and increasing educational attainment, all targets aimed at addressing disadvantage.
In the context of today’s motion, there are two particular flagships under the social plan that are important to highlight as we plot their progress over the last three years. Firstly, I would like to talk about the Community Inclusion Board, established as part of the social plan in 2004; and, secondly, I would like to highlight the success of the two ACT child and family centres as an example of how we are working strategically and collaboratively across government to deliver more holistic, client-focused services.
The Community Inclusion Board’s mandate has been to provide an additional source of high-level advice to me on social exclusion issues and to commission research into priority areas identified by the government. How we strengthen public understanding of the causes and consequences of poverty and a commitment to research, discussion and action to address them are a key focus of the work of the board. As the Assembly is aware, ACOSS president, Lin Hatfield Dodds, chairs the Community Inclusion
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