Page 349 - Week 01 - Thursday, 11 December 2008

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out in front of it in health and ensure that we have more access to bulk-billing GP clinics. These I think are the critical issues. We have a responsibility as a community, and if we fail in this area, if we fail our older Canberrans, we will have significantly failed.

No government can claim to be a success if the standard of living of their older population is going backwards. We commit to working with the government on sensible policies. We will support them if we believe that they will improve the lot of our older Canberrans, and we will hold them accountable for delivering on their priorities and their promises.

MS BRESNAN (Brindabella) (3.24): I would like to thank Ms Porter for bringing this issue to the Assembly. Canberra does have an ageing population and, despite the relative affluence of our community as a whole, social exclusion is a problem for our elderly in the ACT.

I would like to acknowledge the work of the ACT Council on the Ageing as a key advocate for older people in the community. The council’s attention to and input on the issues concerning older people play a key role in keeping these matters on the government agenda. The University of the Third Age is also a very important way that older people can be empowered as it provides a way for them to learn new skills, stay active and stay connected to their community.

As has been noted, transport is a key factor in social inclusion, and access to transport is vital to social inclusion. We need to consider that what happens to the ACTION network directly impacts on the quality of life of many older people in Canberra. An integrated transport system, including accessible and efficient taxi services and bus services and connection between all of these services, is something we need in the ACT, particularly for older people but also for all people in the community. Access to public transport should be available to people in all areas of the community, including those in the outer suburbs. This is why the Greens included in the agreement with the ALP the need to move towards more frequent bus services.

The government has taken some steps to address transport options for our older residents—I acknowledge this, in particular the community bus service. This is an important addition to the transport network and it is a service which should be expanded.

Another issue is access to affordable and appropriate housing, as has also been mentioned. Having no fixed address has a huge impact on social inclusion. There is homelessness amongst our older people and this can put people in a very vulnerable position, particularly older people, and can lead to situations such as elder abuse. The Greens have called for models of universal housing design to be pursued in the ACT. Universal design allows for older people to remain at home as they grow old and it adapts to their changing needs.

I would just like to make reference to a paper put out by the Victorian Council of Social Service entitled Universal housing, universal benefits. They calculated that the economic benefits of universal housing for the Victorian government were


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