Page 2998 - Week 08 - Wednesday, 6 August 2008
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their families or the wider community necessary for them to responsibly carry out their duties as parents.
I would like to bring to the attention of members—this would not be news to most members—the work of Karinya House, a home for mothers and babies. It is timely that, in this week that deals with homelessness, there was a feature article on page 3 of today’s Canberra Times. There is a page 3 “babe” perhaps—a photograph of a young Karinya House client, Lee, and her four-month-old son. Lee exemplifies everything that Karinya House does so well and the needs of the people in the ACT community. She is a young mother with a four month old, but she has been waiting for an extended period of time on the ACT government housing list for accommodation. At the moment she is relying on Karinya House for accommodation.
Karinya provides a fantastic service to hundreds of people in the ACT and surrounding regions every year. Ever since I became a member of this place, I have been a patron of Karinya House. Over the years I have attended functions in support of Karinya House and spoken with many people in professional welfare organisations and medical organisations who sing the praises of Karinya House. The minister herself has, on many occasions, sung the praises of Karinya House. But there is only so much it can do with accommodation for about 10 people at any one time. Most of its extensive work is outreach work simply because it cannot provide accommodation for more people.
As patron of Karinya House, I will be writing to all members here and other members of the community, and I take this opportunity to encourage members to participate in the financial support of Karinya House and its work by becoming a member of Project 1000. Karinya House is looking for 1000 Canberrans who are prepared to donate at least $200 a year to its work. That would provide it with $200,000 a year towards the running costs.
Karinya House does receive substantial moneys through the Department of Disability, Housing and Community Services, and it costs about $600,000 a year to provide its current services. I encourage members to take any of the spare money that they have for donating to charity and favourably consider Karinya House for the splendid work that it does, keeping in mind that it is a home-grown charity.
Question resolved in the affirmative.
The Assembly adjourned at 6.15 pm.
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