❓ Question regarding government initiatives for youth in the Kimberley following concerns raised by the Leader of the Opposition. The Minister outlines various projects and funding allocations for youth facilities, services, and programs in the region.
AnsweredQoN 1326Legislative Assembly
Asked
26 November 2003
Member
Portfolio
Community Development, Women’s
Interests, Seniors and Youth
QuestionView source ↗
The Leader of the Opposition travelled to my electorate not long ago and made a few comments about things that he found as he was wandering around the electorate. One of the things that he commented on was the need for more youth facilities and activities in towns within the Kimberley. Can the minister please outline to the House what the Government has done in this area since it was elected? Ms S.M. McHALE
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for Kimberley for the question and for her commitment to young people in her electorate who are very vulnerable. The remoteness and diversity of the Kimberley provide many challenges to government, but I am delighted with the progress and the achievements that we have made in the first three years of our Government. This financial year, the Department for Community Development will be funding the construction of a combined childcare and community centre in Fitzroy Crossing, a new community centre in Kununurra, a new service in Derby and Fitzroy Crossing to support children who have been sexually abused, and new accommodation for homeless youth in Broome to commence in early 2004. The work that is taking place within the Department of Sport and Recreation is building on the work being done in DCD, with a new multipurpose joint provision and shared-use sport and recreation facility at the Kalumburu Aboriginal Corporation at a cost of $250 000; an upgrade of the Kununurra swimming pool; the development of youth facilities, such as a skate park, in Derby; work at the swimming pool in Derby; and the development of a multipurpose basketball court in one of the Aboriginal corporations. The Government also has a significant grants program for Kimberley organisations and individuals to develop arts programs, including free concerts, arts marketing and theatre workshops for young children; in other words, using culture and the arts as a medium through which we can engage otherwise difficult young people. In the three years that we have been in government, we have invested significant funding in new services to support young people in the Kimberley. We have more to do, and we will continue to work through Aboriginal corporations, through the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission and other organisations, so that we can continue to confront the difficult issues. It is interesting that former Liberal Premier Richard Court is quoted in an article in The West Australian in April 1994 as follows - “If we go to the next election and we have not lifted the status and social position of Aboriginal people, then we will have failed,” Mr Court said. The article states also - More than 75 per cent of all Aborigines in WA are under 30 and special youth and education programs should cater for this group. If members of the previous Government could not do it in 1994-95, they surely will not be able to do it in 2005.
Ms S.M. McHALE replied: I thank the member for Kimberley for the question and for her commitment to young people in her electorate who are very vulnerable. The remoteness and diversity of the Kimberley provide many challenges to government, but I am delighted with the progress and the achievements that we have made in the first three years of our Government. This financial year, the Department for Community Development will be funding the construction of a combined childcare and community centre in Fitzroy Crossing, a new community centre in Kununurra, a new service in Derby and Fitzroy Crossing to support children who have been sexually abused, and new accommodation for homeless youth in Broome to commence in early 2004. The work that is taking place within the Department of Sport and Recreation is building on the work being done in DCD, with a new multipurpose joint provision and shared-use sport and recreation facility at the Kalumburu Aboriginal Corporation at a cost of $250 000; an upgrade of the Kununurra swimming pool; the development of youth facilities, such as a skate park, in Derby; work at the swimming pool in Derby; and the development of a multipurpose basketball court in one of the Aboriginal corporations. The Government also has a significant grants program for Kimberley organisations and individuals to develop arts programs, including free concerts, arts marketing and theatre workshops for young children; in other words, using culture and the arts as a medium through which we can engage otherwise difficult young people. In the three years that we have been in government, we have invested significant funding in new services to support young people in the Kimberley. We have more to do, and we will continue to work through Aboriginal corporations, through the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission and other organisations, so that we can continue to confront the difficult issues. It is interesting that former Liberal Premier Richard Court is quoted in an article in The West Australian in April 1994 as follows - “If we go to the next election and we have not lifted the status and social position of Aboriginal people, then we will have failed,” Mr Court said. The article states also - More than 75 per cent of all Aborigines in WA are under 30 and special youth and education programs should cater for this group. If members of the previous Government could not do it in 1994-95, they surely will not be able to do it in 2005.
I thank the member for Kimberley for the question and for her commitment to young people in her electorate who are very vulnerable. The remoteness and diversity of the Kimberley provide many challenges to government, but I am delighted with the progress and the achievements that we have made in the first three years of our Government. This financial year, the Department for Community Development will be funding the construction of a combined childcare and community centre in Fitzroy Crossing, a new community centre in Kununurra, a new service in Derby and Fitzroy Crossing to support children who have been sexually abused, and new accommodation for homeless youth in Broome to commence in early 2004. The work that is taking place within the Department of Sport and Recreation is building on the work being done in DCD, with a new multipurpose joint provision and shared-use sport and recreation facility at the Kalumburu Aboriginal Corporation at a cost of $250 000; an upgrade of the Kununurra swimming pool; the development of youth facilities, such as a skate park, in Derby; work at the swimming pool in Derby; and the development of a multipurpose basketball court in one of the Aboriginal corporations. The Government also has a significant grants program for Kimberley organisations and individuals to develop arts programs, including free concerts, arts marketing and theatre workshops for young children; in other words, using culture and the arts as a medium through which we can engage otherwise difficult young people. In the three years that we have been in government, we have invested significant funding in new services to support young people in the Kimberley. We have more to do, and we will continue to work through Aboriginal corporations, through the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission and other organisations, so that we can continue to confront the difficult issues. It is interesting that former Liberal Premier Richard Court is quoted in an article in The West Australian in April 1994 as follows - “If we go to the next election and we have not lifted the status and social position of Aboriginal people, then we will have failed,” Mr Court said. The article states also - More than 75 per cent of all Aborigines in WA are under 30 and special youth and education programs should cater for this group. If members of the previous Government could not do it in 1994-95, they surely will not be able to do it in 2005.
Ms S.M. McHALE replied: I thank the member for Kimberley for the question and for her commitment to young people in her electorate who are very vulnerable. The remoteness and diversity of the Kimberley provide many challenges to government, but I am delighted with the progress and the achievements that we have made in the first three years of our Government. This financial year, the Department for Community Development will be funding the construction of a combined childcare and community centre in Fitzroy Crossing, a new community centre in Kununurra, a new service in Derby and Fitzroy Crossing to support children who have been sexually abused, and new accommodation for homeless youth in Broome to commence in early 2004. The work that is taking place within the Department of Sport and Recreation is building on the work being done in DCD, with a new multipurpose joint provision and shared-use sport and recreation facility at the Kalumburu Aboriginal Corporation at a cost of $250 000; an upgrade of the Kununurra swimming pool; the development of youth facilities, such as a skate park, in Derby; work at the swimming pool in Derby; and the development of a multipurpose basketball court in one of the Aboriginal corporations. The Government also has a significant grants program for Kimberley organisations and individuals to develop arts programs, including free concerts, arts marketing and theatre workshops for young children; in other words, using culture and the arts as a medium through which we can engage otherwise difficult young people. In the three years that we have been in government, we have invested significant funding in new services to support young people in the Kimberley. We have more to do, and we will continue to work through Aboriginal corporations, through the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission and other organisations, so that we can continue to confront the difficult issues. It is interesting that former Liberal Premier Richard Court is quoted in an article in The West Australian in April 1994 as follows - “If we go to the next election and we have not lifted the status and social position of Aboriginal people, then we will have failed,” Mr Court said. The article states also - More than 75 per cent of all Aborigines in WA are under 30 and special youth and education programs should cater for this group. If members of the previous Government could not do it in 1994-95, they surely will not be able to do it in 2005.
I thank the member for Kimberley for the question and for her commitment to young people in her electorate who are very vulnerable. The remoteness and diversity of the Kimberley provide many challenges to government, but I am delighted with the progress and the achievements that we have made in the first three years of our Government. This financial year, the Department for Community Development will be funding the construction of a combined childcare and community centre in Fitzroy Crossing, a new community centre in Kununurra, a new service in Derby and Fitzroy Crossing to support children who have been sexually abused, and new accommodation for homeless youth in Broome to commence in early 2004. The work that is taking place within the Department of Sport and Recreation is building on the work being done in DCD, with a new multipurpose joint provision and shared-use sport and recreation facility at the Kalumburu Aboriginal Corporation at a cost of $250 000; an upgrade of the Kununurra swimming pool; the development of youth facilities, such as a skate park, in Derby; work at the swimming pool in Derby; and the development of a multipurpose basketball court in one of the Aboriginal corporations. The Government also has a significant grants program for Kimberley organisations and individuals to develop arts programs, including free concerts, arts marketing and theatre workshops for young children; in other words, using culture and the arts as a medium through which we can engage otherwise difficult young people. In the three years that we have been in government, we have invested significant funding in new services to support young people in the Kimberley. We have more to do, and we will continue to work through Aboriginal corporations, through the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission and other organisations, so that we can continue to confront the difficult issues. It is interesting that former Liberal Premier Richard Court is quoted in an article in The West Australian in April 1994 as follows - “If we go to the next election and we have not lifted the status and social position of Aboriginal people, then we will have failed,” Mr Court said. The article states also - More than 75 per cent of all Aborigines in WA are under 30 and special youth and education programs should cater for this group. If members of the previous Government could not do it in 1994-95, they surely will not be able to do it in 2005.
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