Page 2137 - Week 06 - Thursday, 8 June 2017
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likelihood of repeated contact with the criminal justice system. Equally, their credibility as witnesses or victims of crime is often called into question when there are struggles to convey their version of events.
Equally, we welcome the support to develop a carers strategy. This was also a commitment first made by the Greens and subsequently by other parties during the election campaign. The development of the strategy will assist to ensure that those who care for our most vulnerable, including those who are carers with a disability themselves, get the support they need.
Canberra’s community legal centres improve access to justice, especially for vulnerable Canberrans. Their front-line delivery and advocacy saves costs further down the line. This budget invests an additional $2.5 million to support ACT community legal centres through federal cuts and bolster their ability to deliver crucial services. Funding will go to CLCs, including the Women’s Legal Centre, Canberra Community Law and the very valuable Street Law Service.
I am pleased to fund the expansion of prison industries with a dedicated bakery in the AMC. This is about training and employment for detainees, many of whom have limited education and work experiences, and is an important foundation of the government’s ongoing commitment to reducing recidivism by improving the employment prospects of detainees to support a more positive reintegration into society when they leave custody. Similarly, I am pleased to note an expansion of the very effective and proven extended throughcare program that works with all sentenced detainees post release for up to 12 months in order to reduce reoffending and maximise their reintegration back into the community.
While the budget invests strongly in acute and hospital services for health, it also recognises that primary and preventative health is essential in an effective health system. This budget, which includes significant investment in mental health, is about supporting Canberrans, particularly our vulnerable citizens, to stay healthy and out of hospital, not just waiting until they get sick.
A number of Greens’ election commitments included in the parliamentary agreement have been delivered in this budget, including the $9.3 million investment for new nurse-led walk-in centres to take pressure off our emergency departments and $4 million to be used in part to develop a preventative health strategy. This is a 21st century approach to health care which recognises the growing need to prevent and manage chronic and complex conditions in the community. An additional two mobile dental clinics, another parliamentary agreement item, will also have a positive impact on the general health and wellbeing of vulnerable Canberrans.
I am pleased to see the Greens and Labor election commitments to a new $12 million health clinic in partnership with Winnunga Nimityjah Aboriginal Health Service being delivered. This budget takes firm steps towards supporting Indigenous Canberrans and organisations to deliver better services in health care, in housing and in justice reinvestment. But there is much more we need to do to close the gap.
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