Page 2106 - Week 07 - Wednesday, 6 August 2014
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departments. Social work services are available through the emergency department for those patients who require additional support services in the community.
On 22 July, the Chief Minister officially opened the primary healthcare service at the early morning centre at Canberra City Uniting Church. This will be trialled for a 12-month period. It is a new primary healthcare service that will provide accessible healthcare to vulnerable and disadvantaged people who are disconnected from mainstream primary healthcare services. It is a partnership between ACT Health, ACT Medicare Local, Interchange General Practice and the National Health Cooperative.
Under the parliamentary agreement, the government established a community legal centre hub which co-locates legal centres and commits just over $1 million in the budget. The government has also invested $900,000 over three years in the innovative Street Law outreach legal service for the homeless. Street Law has provided early intervention outreach services to one of the most vulnerable groups of Canberrans.
High levels of disadvantage are associated with a lower likelihood of taking action and seeking professional advice in response to legal problems. Groups of people who are likely to experience high levels of disadvantage include Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, people with a disability, people who are homeless and people who are at risk of becoming homeless.
The 2012 LAW survey report on legal need in the ACT indicated that 50 per cent of Canberrans experience at least one legal problem a year and 20 per cent experience three or more. Many vulnerable people who have legal problems, particularly those who have multiple legal problems, often experience accompanying effects as a result of legal problems that are left unaddressed. This can include stress-related illness, physical ill health, relationship breakdown, having to move home and, of course, significant financial strain.
With its outreach approach to service delivery, Street Law provides its services in a way that fits the clients it needs to reach, clients who are less likely to come into a government office but do attend other services which Street Law can provide.
These initiatives, together with many others that operate across the broad continuum of service delivery in the territory, provide a pretty comprehensive network of support and assistance to help people experiencing homelessness.
Suggestions that the solution to homelessness lies in the provision of more housing that is affordable is only part of the solution to the complex issue of homelessness. There is clearly a supply-side challenge, and we seek to respond to that, but the issue is more complex than just that.
We have an opportunity here in the ACT, as a result of the Chief Minister’s announcements in relation to portfolios, to align Housing, Treasury and Economic Development. I think it is the first time in the country that these strategic responsibilities have been aligned. Placing housing in this economic development sphere provides a significant opportunity to not only stimulate the territory’s economy at this time but make a real dent in the need to supply more affordable housing in the territory.
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