Page 3216 - Week 07 - Thursday, 1 July 2010
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Importantly, this service focuses on breaking the cycle of homelessness that many rough sleepers experience.
During the latter part of this year, this government will be establishing a new central intake service for homeless people. For too long, people who find themselves homeless have had to navigate themselves around a complex network of services in order to find accommodation vacancies and identify the support services that best meet their needs. The central intake service will overcome these issues by providing homeless clients with one point of entry through which their accommodation and support needs can be addressed without the clients having to knock on multiple agencies’ doors.
An unacceptably high number of women and children become homeless through domestic violence. That is why this government will continue to invest in measures to assist women and their children to stay in their homes after experiencing domestic violence.
The social housing sector and models of service delivery to homeless people are developing rapidly across all jurisdictions. As recommended by the Select Committee on Estimates, I intend providing the Assembly with a statement on the future of crisis, public and community housing later this year. This government intends playing a full part in reducing homelessness and achieving the commonwealth’s 2020 targets.
Building new social housing, the place to call home initiative, investment in Pilgrim House, a new service for rough sleepers, simplifying access to homelessness services and increased resources for women suffering domestic violence and at risk of homelessness are measures that give us a good start on the road to our targets and deliver real service improvements to those vulnerable Canberrans who find themselves homeless or at risk of homelessness.
Proposed expenditure agreed to.
Proposed expenditure—Part 1.19—ACT Gambling and Racing Commission—$4,336,000 (net cost of outputs), totalling $4,336,000.
MR SMYTH (Brindabella) (11:43): I have just a couple of issues to mention here. The first, of course, is the race fields fee. This has proved a vexed issue for a small jurisdiction such as the ACT. Once one state acted to impose a fee on providing race field details, all others had to follow to protect their revenue. The ACT waited as long as possible before putting its own legislation in place so that we could consider the nature of legislation put in place elsewhere and the outcome of legal challenges that were current.
A further positive outcome for the racing industry was a change in the way in which the industry will be funded. We saw a major backflip from Minister Barr, started by not supporting requests from the industry to maintain funding at previous levels. Just prior to the 2010 budget, as is his wont, Mr Barr backflipped and agreed to maintain funding for the industry—clearly, the value of opposition for opposition’s sake proved yet again with this minister.
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