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The portfolio of Family & Community services encompasses Childcare, Care and Protection Services and the wider community engagement.

The Canberra Liberals believe we need to be making childcare more affordable and accessible for Canberra Families. We will be waiting for the Productivity Commission report into Childcare and Early Childhood Learning to be released in October this year to start work on developing a Childcare policy which will benefit all Canberrans. Accessible and affordable Childcare can increase participation in the workforce while optimising children’s learning development.  

Care & Protection Services looks after some of our most vulnerable Canberrans, children who need our help. The Canberra Liberals will be holding the Minister to account to ensure that the Care & Protection Service in the ACT is run as effectively and efficiently as possible. The Public Advocate and The Auditor General have, in recent years, released reports indicating the mismanagement in this department. We will be doing everything in our power to make sure the government does not fail the community in this area anymore. I will be developing policies based on the varying reports which have been released to improve this department and ensure the protection of our children.

In the meantime, please do not hesitate to contact my office in relation to any queries you may have surrounding Family & Community Services issues.

Family and Community Services Portfolio-related Issues

The Canberra Liberals have a strong commitment to the environment. It was a Liberal Government that introduced the ACT’s first Minister for the Environment in the early 1990’s. It was a local Liberal Government in 1997 that introduced the first greenhouse gas reduction targets for any jurisdiction is Australia. Recently in the Assembly I spoke about the need for a single nature conservation agency, and about reducing greenhouse emissions.

The Canberra Liberals also have a strong commitment to reducing waste going to our landfills, to recycling, and to working on our waterways to improve water quality and amenity. We support good management of our nature parks, reserves, and the natural environment. Our beautiful natural environment creates many opportunities for preservation, conservation and tourism.

We are working in this space to develop policies to take to the next election however, in the meantime, please do not hesitate to contact my office in relation to your environmental queries.

Environment Portfolio-related Issues

Home ownership

The Canberra Liberals believe that home ownership is the main vehicle for most Canberra families to achieve economic independence and to obtain an asset which will offer protection from financial hardship. Improving housing affordability is a key goal for the Canberra Liberals and we are committed to reducing the barriers of entry to the property market for first home buyers. Making it easier to purchase your first home means people who grew up here in Canberra are more likely to stay and to settle here, and those who have come here to work are more likely to adopt our city as their home.  

Homelessness

The flip side of housing is homelessness, and according to the 2011 Census, the ACT has one of the worst rates of homelessness in the country with 50.0 people per 10,000, compared to a national rate of 48.9 per 10,000. While we have lower than the national average of rough sleepers, areas of concern include sever overcrowding and boarding houses, where we perform worse than the national average.

We are working in this space to develop policies to take to the next election however, in the meantime, please do not hesitate to contact my office in relation to your housing queries.

Housing Portfolio-related Issues

Arts policy fails to deliver real support for struggling local artists

28 July 2022

ACT Minister for the Arts Tara Cheyne today released “Canberra: Australia’s Arts Capital – Arts, Culture and Creative Policy 2022-2026”. Shadow Minister for Arts Nicole Lawder welcomed the release of the policy but noted the serious lack of direct funding or support for artists in Canberra.

“Today’s policy release, while good intentioned, is a glossy booklet filled with outdated statistics

 and trendy buzzwords.” Nicole Lawder said.

“Similar to last year’s Statement of Ambition for the Arts, the majority of funding and projects announced relate to infrastructure funding. Put simply, infrastructure funding, while badly needed, does not compensate for direct funding of our local artists. 

“Allocating funding to the design process of the Canberra Theatre Expansion does not help artists in the ACT today.

“Allocating funding to refurbish the Gorman House Arts Centre does not help artists in the ACT today.

“Allocating funding to workplace health and safety upgrades at the Canberra Theatre does not help artists in the ACT today.

“None of this funding will go to artists in the ACT. It’s simply more infrastructure promises that this Labor-Greens Government has a terrible record of delivering.

“The Canberra Theatre Expansion has been tossed around in the design process by this government for 10 years now.

Last year we saw the contract for the Kingston Arts Precinct sensationally scrapped by the government.

This government has a disastrous record on arts infrastructure and still it’s all they ever promise for the arts industry. Canberra artists deserve better, and they deserve real support now.” Ms Lawder concluded.

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