The ACT Council of Social Service (ACTCOSS) welcomed funding in this week’s ACT Budget for housing, health, and the ACT community sector, but said more was needed to support Canberrans struggling as the cost of living skyrockets.
Similarly, it answered some of the calls from the ACT’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, but much more needed to be done to improve outcomes for First Nations peoples in the ACT.
Housing, health and the community sector
The Budget, described by Chief Minister and Treasurer Andrew Barr as “delivering for Canberrans now and into the future”, included previously announced measures of $57.2 million for public housing maintenance, $30 million for additional public housing, $37.5 million for mental health services, and $7.2 million for continuing specialist homelessness services.
ACTCOSS also welcomed a previously announced $13 million investment in additional supports for alcohol and other drug treatment services in the Territory.
Other key budget measures ACTCOSS welcomed include:
• $3.059 million for legal assistance for vulnerable members of the community including continuation of funding for services established during COVID-19
• Investments in the health sector, including $4.6 million for making medical and surgical abortions more affordable; and $12.1 million for public maternity services, including for scoping for a new perinatal mental health wellbeing facility
• $3.7 million over four years for implementing the Capital of Equality LGBTIQ+ Strategy; and $2.5 million to support Canberrans born with variations in sex characteristics
• Funding over four years to cover the community sector’s additional 4.43 per cent indexation with a new methodology to reflect the Fair Work Commission Annual Wage Review.
ACTCOSS CEO, Dr Emma Campbell said: “This budget includes much-needed investment in housing, and will ensure the continuation of services put in place during COVID-19 which are still desperately needed. It will enable the community sector to keep its head just above water in the face of growing disadvantage and an increasing population.”
ACTCOSS also welcomed an increase of the Utilities Concession by $50 to $800 following advocacy by ACTCOSS and other partners.
However, Dr Campbell said that ACTCOSS had hoped to see additional support to tackle the cost-of-living pressures faced by Canberrans on low incomes including a major review of the amount and targeting of financial concessions.
“The 2022-23 ACT Budget has delivered significant investment in the ACT public service infrastructure and workforce,” Dr Campbell said. “The ACT Government must now ensure that the same support is provided to the ACT community sector to modernise and develop, for example, through major investment in community facilities.
“While a strong ACT public service is important, we need to ensure that a fairer share of resources is provided to front-line community services who are best placed to deliver support to the community.”
Other gaps in today’s budget included adequate and dedicated funding for the Government’s ACT Disability Strategy and Disability Health Strategy, and a commitment to a Commission of Inquiry into the overrepresentation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the justice system.
Dr Campbell also called on the ACT Government to do more to respond to the Counting the Costs report which highlighted the major underfunding of the ACT Community Sector.
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“Investment in community organisations supports our local economy by delivering significant return on investment through improved social outcomes, jobs, and spending in the local economy.
“We look forward to working with the ACT Government and building on this ACT Budget to ensure a fair and just community where all Canberrans are supported and included,” Dr Campbell said.
First Nations peoples
The Budget, which featured an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Budget Statement, announced:
• Funding for the Aboriginal Legal Service to establish a Care and Protection Legal Advocacy Service for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
• Funding to establish an independent Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children’s Commissioner
• Funding to continue Winnunga Nimmityjah’s holistic model of health service delivery to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander detainees at the AMC
• Additional funding for the construction of new accommodation for the Gugan Gulwan Youth Aboriginal Corporation
• Investments in programs to reduce incarceration rates of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people; and
• Investment in implementing community-led, culturally appropriate responses to domestic violence in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community.
Rachelle Kelly-Church, head of ACTCOSS’s Gulanga Program, said: “While welcomed, these announcements follow a long period of inaction in implementing recommendations under the Our Booris Our Way and We Don’t Shoot Our Wounded Reports.
“ACTCOSS and Gulanga have supported calls for the ACT Government to commit to a Commission of Inquiry or Royal Commission into the overrepresentation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the justice system. This ACT Budget has failed to address those calls.
“We also need to see significant increases in investment to establish and expand Aboriginal community-controlled organisations. We need to ensure there is a better distribution of funds so that new initiatives targeting our communities are delivered through Aboriginal community-controlled organisations – not just through ACT Government services.
“Time after time, experience shows that Aboriginal community-controlled organisations are best placed to support our community and achieve the improved outcomes that we are all desperate for.
“We also need investment to ensure that the services provided to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are culturally safe and respectful. The announcement of $12 million for the implementation of Corrections ACT’s Blueprint for Change must include the delivery of mandatory Aboriginal cultural competence training for staff involved in our justice system so that we can challenge ongoing systemic discrimination and racism.
“Whilst this budget is a start for our Community, the ACT Government needs to do much more to support and fund Aboriginal community-controlled organisations to enable self-determination and better outcomes.
“We look forward to working with the ACT Government to direct more funding and support to Aboriginal community-controlled organisations that will in turn lead to better outcomes and real change for our community,” Ms Kelly-Church said.
