SUPPORTING OUR MOST VULNERABLE
SUPPORTING OUR
MOST VULNERABLE
OUR COMMITMENTS Closing the community sector funding gap that has emerged since 2010 due to population growth of over 30 per cent not having been matched by increased funding. Tying future community sector funding to population growth plus inflation. Funding full-time roles for the Chair and Deputy Chair of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elected Body to advocate for Indigenous people. Funding two full-time roles for Advocacy for Inclusion to advocate for people with disability. WHAT WE STAND FOR Helping people who need our help. Providing proven critical service providers, and their staff, with greater funding certainty wherever possible, including through longer rolling contracts. Ensuring the ACT’s energy policies address entrenched disadvantage, including through measures to increase the energy efficiency and electrification of rental properties and social housing. Taking advantage of the territory's increased role in delivering the NDIS to boost social and economic participation for people with disability.
WHY WE NEED CHANGE
Vulnerable members of our community are experiencing unprecedented levels of unmet need. As the nation’s capital and a jurisdiction with a high median income, we should not be failing those who most need our help.
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According to ACTCOSS, an estimated 40,000 Canberrans are living below the poverty line. Sadly, this includes one out of every 10 children in the ACT - that’s 9,000 children.
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With living costs going up, more people are struggling to afford food. In 2023, approximately 12,500 Canberrans ran out of food.
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Only four percent of community sector organisations say they are able to meet current levels of demand. And less than 10 per cent believe that their funding actually covers the full cost of service delivery.
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Although the community-managed mental health sector provides two thirds of mental health services in the ACT, it receives just 13% of the overall funding allocated for mental health services.
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Indigenous people are significantly over-represented in our criminal justice system and experience worse outcomes in areas including health, housing and employment. Indigenous children in the ACT are over-represented in out-of-home care and typically two to three years behind their non-Indigenous classmates in literacy and numeracy.
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The unemployment rate for people with disability is more than twice the rate for people without disability. Australia’s disability employment gap is one of the largest in the OECD at over 30 per cent.