The YWCA held a female candidates forum yesterday in Canberra and we were asked a series of 10 questions. Labor candidate for Canberra Gai Brodtmann and I shared the responses from Federal Labor, with Gai addressing the first five questions, and me the latter. Time was tight thanks to efficient chairing by Roslyn Dundas, so I wanted to post the full responses to the questions here for reference.
Kate
For more information about the Canberra YWCA, see their web page http://ywca-canberra.org.au/home
Question 6 Strengthening social inclusion
What will you/your party do to ensure that the role and needs of women, families and communities in disadvantaged areas are addressed, including through the social inclusion agenda?
On 28 January 2010 the Government launched its national statement on social inclusion, A Stronger, Fairer Australia. The statement sets out a long-term vision and strategy for the Government’s social inclusion agenda, detailing the actions and approach across Government that contribute to achieving this vision.
There are major reforms currently being implemented or trialled to tackle the major causes of social exclusion in six priority areas: targeting jobless families with children to increase work opportunities, improve parenting and build capacity; improving the life chances of children at greatest risk of long term disadvantage; reducing the incidence of homelessness; improving outcomes for people living with disability or mental illness and their carers; closing the gap for Indigenous Australians; and breaking the cycle of entrenched and multiple disadvantage in particular neighbourhoods and communities. The statement also outlines our future directions. For further information, you can access the statement at www.socialinclusion.gov.au/Resources/Pages/Resources.aspx.
Gender is a key variable that interacts with each of the six priority groups. For example, approximately 75 per cent of jobless families – a priority target group – are headed by single women. These differences in causes of social exclusion between women and men will often require different measures targeting women and men to promote effective social inclusion.
Question 7 The Northern Territory Emergency Response and Compulsory Income Management
Will you/your party shift income management from a compulsory model to a voluntary program, coupled with improved service delivery and support for disadvantaged individuals?
On 21 June 2010, the Parliament passed the Government’s legislation to reinstate the Racial Discrimination Act (RDA) and make necessary changes to the Northern Territory Emergency Response laws. Australians want to live in a place where laws affect everybody equally and are not based on race. The passage of this legislation was an achievement because we didn’t have a majority in the Senate.
The legislation repeals all the provisions that suspend the operation of the RDA in relation to all the Northern Territory Emergency Response (NTER) measures. The Government’s legislation also removes all the provisions that state that measures contained in the NTER legislation are deemed to be “special measures”.
The Government has also introduced its welfare reforms to support vulnerable families and children. The reforms will expand the benefits of income management to an increased number of vulnerable Australians – Indigenous and non-Indigenous – and will link income management to the Government’s broader social policy objectives. You may be aware of the Learn or Earn strategy, which places requirements on young people to participate in education, training or employment if they are receiving Youth Allowance or their parents are receiving Family Tax Benefit. Currently it is estimated there are several thousand Indigenous children in the Northern Territory who are not even enrolled to go to school.
For the first time, income management will be linked to school attendance which is compulsory for all school-aged children. Regular school attendance will be a pathway off income management. Income management will also not apply to people without dependent children who have worked an average of 15 hours a week for at least six months in the previous 12 months. Aged Pensioners and Disability Support Pensioners are not included in compulsory income management unless exceptional circumstances apply, like they are caring for children who are identified as being at risk.
The Government is also investing an additional $53 million on financial literacy support for welfare recipients in the Northern Territory.
This new income management scheme is starting across the Northern Territory. Protections under the RDA will apply immediately to participants in this new scheme.
We are committed to evidence-based policy and will be collecting data from the start. If re-elected, the Labor Government will undertake a comprehensive evaluation of the policy at the end of 2011. This will inform decisions about extending the scheme to other disadvantaged regions in Australia.
The Labor Government is paying rent to Aboriginal land owners for five-year leases covering 45 communities under the Northern Territory Emergency Response (NTER). The amount of rent was determined independently by the NT Valuer-General. When we came to Government we undertook a comprehensive survey of the lease areas to accurately assess lease boundaries and exclude areas which are not essential to support the delivery of services as part of the NTER. The boundary changes reduced the overall leased area by more than 50 per cent. We have committed that we won’t extend the five year compulsory leases when they expire in 2012.
Since coming to office, the Government has delivered many extra services in the Northern Territory – to highlight some: over 60 additional police in remote communities, 22 safe houses, eight new and 11 upgraded crèches, approximately 7,000 meals a day to around 4,500 children in 67 communities under the school nutrition program, an additional 140 full time equivalent teachers, licensing of 88 community stores to provide a better range of healthy food, and over 14,000 child health checks and over 8,200 follow-up visits for audiology, dental, and ear, nose and throat surgery.
Over 2,000 Community Development Employment Project positions have been converted into properly paid jobs with superannuation and entitlements.
All of these changes complement the Government’s “Closing the Gap” strategy, which is delivering unprecedented investment in early childhood development, education, health, housing, jobs and remote service delivery to the Northern Territory.
In the first year of SIHIP until July 2010, 67 new houses and 344 refurbishments have been completed across the Northern Territory and a further 53 new houses and 81 refurbishments are underway. The housing program is also building a strong, skilled Indigenous workforce. Currently, more than 35 per cent of the program’s workforce in the Northern Territory is Indigenous, creating 200 jobs for Indigenous workers. Federal Labor has put in place major changes in the Northern Territory to ensure targets are met and outcomes meet high standards.
Closing the Gap will take time and demands perseverance from all of us. Federal Labor sees it as a national priority which is essential if we are to build a future where each and every Australian is valued and treated equitably.
Question 8 – Improving childcare, including out of school hours care and vacation care
What will you/your party do to improve out of school hours and vacation care (OSHVC) programs, particularly for 8-15 year olds?
The Australian Government is boosting Out of Hours School Care quality through the development of a National Quality Framework which aims to raise quality and drive continuous improvement in early childhood education and care and school age care services. The Framework includes a nationally consistent Quality Standards and a Learning Framework, which will ensure children in school age care will receive a nationally consistent meaningful leisure program.
The Government recognises the importance of Outside School Hours Care for working parents and for school-aged children. There are no age restrictions on the availability of Child Care Benefit and the Child Care Rebate for school aged children in approved OSHC services.
There is no limit on the number of OSHC services that can be approved to provide Child Care Benefit eligible child care. The number of services providing OSHC is consistently increasing.
Question 9 – Adopting a Human Rights Act
What will you/your party do to ensure that all members of our community, including women, refugees, people from culturally and linguistic backgrounds, and the disadvantaged, can access their human rights- will the party adopt the Human Rights Act?
On 21 April 2010, the Attorney-General launched Australia’s Human Rights Framework, which outlines action which the Government will take to promote and protect human rights. The Framework is available online at www.ag.gov.au/humanrightsframework.
The Framework reaffirms the Government’s commitment to human rights and community engagement. It draws on the valuable work undertaken by the National Human Rights Consultation in canvassing the views of the Australian community.
The Government is aware that concerns were expressed about the possible effects of a Human Rights Act.
Rather than developing a legislative charter, the Framework is focused on ensuring people understand their human rights and responsibilities and that laws are developed, drafted and considered by Parliament with particular focus on ensuring these laws are consistent with Australia’s international human rights obligations.
Guided by the Report of the National Human Rights Consultation, education about human rights and responsibilities has been set as the highest priority within the Framework. This recognises that human rights can be protected and promoted effectively only if an understanding of and commitment to human rights becomes a part of everyday life for the community. Community engagement is central to the success of the implementation of the Framework as all Australians will play a vital role in the promotion and improvement of human rights.
On 23 June 2010, the Attorney-General announced Australia’s Human Rights Framework – Education Grants. Community groups and non-government organisations will be eligible to apply for funding to offer grass-roots, human rights education projects. Applications open on 1 July 2010 and close 30 July 2010. Information about the program is available at www.ag.gov.au/hrgrants.
Additionally, on 2 June 2010, the Attorney-General introduced the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Bill 2010 into Parliament. The Bill provides for the establishment of a new Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights and requires statements assessing compatibility of new laws with Australia’s international human rights obligations to accompany new legislation. Increased Parliamentary scrutiny will ensure public confidence that our laws reflect our human rights obligations.
Question 10 – Strengthening policy responses by improving data collection
To improve understanding and strengthen government responses to the needs of women and girls, what will you/your party do to improve data collection disaggregated by gender, age, race, location and disability so that programs can better respond to the needs of particular population groups, including young women from a range of backgrounds?
On behalf of the Government, the Australian Bureau of Statistics provides data on people who experience a disability, and their carers, which specifies disability type and status, and is disaggregated by gender.
On behalf of the Commonwealth, State, Territory and New Zealand Ministers’ Conference on the Status of Women, the Australian Government is currently working with the Australian Bureau of Statistics (the ABS) to develop a set of gender equality indicators that will enable both Government and the community to measure progress towards gender equality in Australian society. Work is also underway to develop an access point to key gender data on the ABS website, to be referred to as ‘Gender @ a Glance’.
The Australian Gender Indicators and Gender @ a Glance webpage are under development, with results expected to be released on the ABS website later this year.
