Page 2289 - Week 07 - Tuesday, 1 August 2017
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part of promoting an open and consultative democracy is the provision of information. The community needs to know what services the government is providing for their taxes.
We have made significant improvements in how we inform the Canberra community. Introduced in November 2015, the Our Canberra newsletter goes to 180,000 households each month, giving our constituents information on services and government programs in their region. This month’s editions are now hitting letterboxes with stories saying how we are making the University of Canberra Public Hospital clean and green, letting people know that they can pay for their car registration online, and promoting the Youth InterACT grants program and a consultation to allow Hughes residents to inform an artist’s brief for a new artwork at the local shops. This is complemented by the digital newsletter, which goes to a database of 38,000 subscribers.
The ACT government is also now very effectively using social media to promote our programs and services. With almost 12,000 followers of the ACT government’s Facebook page and almost 10,000 on Twitter, this is growing every day. We know this is an important channel to reach busy professionals as well as mums and dads and everyday members of the Canberra community.
We are working on innovative new ways to inform and engage the community, including engaging younger Canberrans. Engagement with younger Canberrans is a particular challenge for government. It is one which requires significant effort.
The Youth Advisory Council in my own portfolio is just one avenue the government has to give young people a voice in the ACT government. The Advisory Council provides young people aged between 12 and 25 years with an opportunity to take a leading role in participation and consultation activities on issues that affect their lives; raises awareness of the aspirations, needs and concerns of young people within government and the community; and facilitates interaction between young people, the ACT government and the wider community.
Membership of the Advisory Council reflects the diversity of young people residing in the ACT, including a gender balance, people with disabilities, and people from Indigenous and culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. The members conduct a number of consultation processes including think tanks, open meetings, face-to-face consultation and youth surveys. Council members also participate in other committees, working parties, task forces and government agencies. They are a very impressive group of young people.
Advisory councils such as this one are yet another avenue to allow community members, experts, people with lived experience and organisational representatives to engage with and inform government.
Within my own portfolio, as I mentioned, I benefit from the advice and representations of not just the Youth Advisory Council but also, as I spoke about earlier today, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elected Body, the Disability
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