Page 786 - Week 02 - Thursday, 12 February 2009
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in the ACT’s in excess of $3 billion budget where they could make cuts. By contrast, the Canberra Liberals did look at areas. The burgeoning number of senior executives and some areas of government self-congratulations and government promotion are two examples where cuts could be made for the benefit of the community. We would make cuts in non-essential areas to put money into areas where need is greatest.
In addition to that, we took with us to the last election a range of policies aimed at helping the disadvantaged. We had policies that would help people access health services in the communities where they live, actual health services with doctors, rather than so-called medical centres that do not have doctors in them, assistance for single-aged pensioners who are doing it particularly tough and the home insulation program. I know that the Treasurer is starting to tire of the mention of the home insulation program, but that program, a program that we fully support, was aimed at improving the quality of life of low income earners and at the same time having the triple bang of improving their quality of life, reducing their carbon footprint and cutting back their expenditure on energy and water. These were things that we saw as important–not just simple handouts but things that made a long-term and ongoing difference to people in the ACT.
We have not seen this from the Treasurer and the Chief Minister. It was interesting that the only mention of future options from the government was to see how much he could wheedle out of the community through philanthropy. Philanthropy is very good and I think that we should be taking steps to improve philanthropy in the ACT, but one of the things we need to see is leadership by example. We should be identifying where there is unnecessary expenditure and looking at how that can be diverted to people who are in need.
MS BURCH (Brindabella) (3.43): Madam Assistant Speaker, thank you for the opportunity to address the Assembly on such an important issue to our community and thank you to Ms Bresnan for bringing it forward for discussion today. The community sector delivers crucial services to the people of Canberra and our region and it is important to acknowledge the enormous contribution of the sector and the dedicated people who are at the very heart of the sector. Having worked and managed community support services myself, I have seen firsthand the tremendous effort and the contribution from community and volunteers and how those services are received.
The global economic crisis, as well as having an obvious international, national and local impact, also has a significant impact on the individual. The ACT is fortunate in enjoying a relatively high standard of living, including low unemployment. However, this does not alter the impact of the financial crisis and it will have a significant impact on a number of Canberrans who do not enjoy a high standard of living. The ACT government and the community sector work in partnership on these issues. The shared vision in the social compact captures the goals that the government and the community sector are both striving for and so provides a basis to work together to address these issues.
The social compact is the foundation of a robust, effective and respective partnership. The government is supporting the community sector to identify and better meet the complexity of needs within our community. The ACT government has introduced three-year funding cycles for the community sector in order to provide them with
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