Page 2538 - Week 08 - Tuesday, 9 August 2016
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My concern is not that money should be spent; I do believe it should be. My concern is that rates is an area that Canberrans already feel quite concerned about. Putting the onus on to households that have already had a 40 to 60 per cent increase in rates over the last four years since the last election may make them less willing to be engaged in this process that we need to undertake.
In Weston in 2011-12 the average rates were $1,307. Yet now in 2016-17 they are $1,956, an increase of 49.7 per cent or $649 per year in each and every year. In Fisher in 2011-12 the average rates were $1,269. Now the average rates are $1,987. This is an increase of 56.6 per cent or in dollar terms $718 per year. Many people feel that the government now wants to use their family home as an ATM to withdraw funds from every home owner to contribute to the domestic violence levy.
Again, let me make it very clear that we do not dispute the need for domestic violence services, housing for those in crisis and wraparound services to ensure that a woman can transition from crisis to a suitable and sustainable future. However, I do have grave concerns about the approach of going to householders with another levy on their rates. It happens over and over again.
Some of the families whom we are taking the levy from have their own problems, which are exacerbated by financial problems. This one size fits all approach does not seem to take that into account. Families only have a certain amount of money in their bank accounts and in their budgets. Every time the government puts the hand in and takes more from what they need, the family can end up suffering.
Let me tell you that often when there is a pinch on the family budget it is the woman who goes without. It is the mother who always puts the needs of her children and her family above her own. More often than not it is the woman who suffers. So this government, without thinking, is again taking more money from the pockets of women.
Again, I think that in general terms in the women’s portfolio we have a relatively bipartisan approach. I applaud much of what the government has done. I just think there is always more we can do in this area. I hope that one day there will not be a need for a minister for women if we actually do reach some kind of parity.
MR WALL (Brindabella) (8.05): I will speak to my shadow portfolio responsibilities of youth, disability and Indigenous affairs. I have held the Indigenous affairs shadow portfolio since I commenced being a member of this place almost four years ago. I would like to say that significant progress has been made in the space of Indigenous affairs in the four years that I have been here, but it seems that many of the issues that I was speaking about when I first took on the portfolio some four years ago are the issues that we are still talking about and discussing today.
Primarily, I guess very close to my heart, are the issues surrounding the Gugan Gulwan Indigenous youth service that operates from Wanniassa in my electorate. This is one of the premier youth Indigenous services in the ACT, providing an extensive
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