Page 2470 - Week 09 - Tuesday, 6 August 2013
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
the best place in Australia to live. In fact I am delighted to announce that it will soon become 10 grandchildren.
I want also to acknowledge my brother and sister, who are here today. Growing up, my siblings taught me about sharing, about not sharing, about tolerance and about unity. They were also pivotal in a life lesson nearly 11 years ago that first prompted my move to work in the community sector.
But let me state that the community sector is not my only experience or interest. I have been privileged to work in a range of different areas, including science and technology, tourism, tax, transport, health, defence and financial services, in addition to disability and homelessness, through my work over many years in the private sector, the Australian public service and the not-for-profit sector.
Many people talk to me about what a beautiful place Canberra is to live, and I agree wholeheartedly with them. But Canberra is more than just a location or another city; it is our nation’s capital and, as such, it is a set of values. It is about having hope for the future and ensuring that we, the members of the Legislative Assembly, set in place the mechanisms to best ensure that future.
I want Canberra in the future to be a dynamic, vibrant city where all of our children and grandchildren will be able to find jobs and create new business opportunities, to have the best possible health care and education system, to have a stable economy and affordable housing with a reasonable cost of living, to have excellent amenities in the built environment while still being responsible caretakers of the beautiful natural environment which surrounds our city.
In working towards this vision for Canberra, I want a Canberra that is accessible and inclusive of everyone. This includes people with disability, the aged, visitors, migrants, tourists, those on low incomes, those on high incomes—in fact, everyone from all walks of life. I want a city and a territory with a real sense of community and connectedness. I want us to build on our pride in our city and take on bigger and better things, not just as the hub of our region but as our nation’s capital. This is what I want for Canberra, and we have a way to go.
Many of you know that immediately prior to my election to the Legislative Assembly I worked at a national peak body for homelessness. And it is fitting to talk about homelessness today because this week is national Homeless Persons Week. It pains me greatly to say that the ACT has the second worst rate of homelessness in Australia, second only to the Northern Territory. Amongst this appalling statistic there is some good news in that a great number of people experiencing homelessness in Canberra receive support from specialist homelessness services, but we must do more and do better on ending and preventing homelessness. We need to address the structural causes.
Homelessness can be triggered by poverty, mental illness, family and relationship breakdown, substance misuse, and one of the great scourges of our modern society, domestic and family violence. But also here in Canberra a major factor which can contribute to homelessness is the lack of affordable housing.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video