Page 1315 - Week 04 - Tuesday, 27 March 2012
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services from which all in the community will benefit, we are also targeting our investment in areas where the need is greatest.
The benefits of a high standard of living need to be shared by all, including those who need additional support to participate in our community. Under this government, people with disabilities are better able to access services, with funding increased by more than 110 per cent. Better access to disability services means better engagement with the community at large. This has corresponding benefits for self-esteem and economic outcomes for individuals. It means an even greater level of participation in our society.
In short, we all benefit from government investment in social inclusion. Investments in education and training are critical to support the productive capacity of the territory and they are critical for generating further economic growth. Investments in high quality education also attract students from around the country and around the world. I referred in my previous answer to those record levels of enrolments at ACT universities. This is critical not only to the health of our society but to our long-term economic development.
Our highly educated workforce provides economic benefits through the education sector. Not only do we benefit from increased numbers of students but this also provides opportunities for further and deeper research and development. It allows our innovative and capable business community to commercialise new technologies, products and services. They take advantage of the cutting edge opportunities to diversify our economy through the comparative advantages we have. This is the sustainable basis for long-term economic growth.
MR HARGREAVES: Supplementary, Mr Speaker.
MR SPEAKER: Yes, Mr Hargreaves.
MR HARGREAVES: Minister, are there any alternative approaches that the government can take?
MR BARR: Yes, there are alternative approaches. You could adopt the approach of no longer investing in quality services, in no longer believing the government has an active role to play in supporting everyone in our society to achieve their full potential. You could undertake a process of suggesting that any public investment in things like education and health is throwing good money after bad; we have heard that many times in this chamber You could suggest, for example, that those who seek to champion causes of social inclusion are only interested in protecting the interests of minorities; we have heard that many times across this chamber.
So we do face very clear choices as a community and very clear choices as a legislature about where our focus should be, and it should be on investing in our community. Our people are our greatest asset and the people of Canberra are indeed benefiting from the significant investments that we have seen in important areas of priority for our community, particularly in health and education but also in municipal services and community services.
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