Today’s Estimates hearings have raised questions about the ACT Labor Government’s decision to proceed with implementation of reduction in library opening hours without adequately considering the impacts on the community.
“The Independent Working Group report focused on fixing the workforce model within existing funding. The Group identified a range of options that could reduce closures and improve service reliability – they did not recommend reducing access to library services as the primary solution,” ACT Greens Municipal Services spokesperson Andrew Braddock MLA says.
“The Government repeatedly confirmed today that this was not a budget decision. But if the problem was staffing, the question they should answer is simple: why is the solution cutting opening hours?”
“The Government barely scraped together support from 52 per cent of library workers for these changes. That’s far from a clear mandate for reducing community access to a valued service.
“Fortunately Minister Cheyne herself acknowledged that librarians are frontline staff, something Treasurer Chris Steel repeatedly declined to do yesterday. If that’s true, librarians should be resourced like frontline staff and libraries should be properly funded to meet community needs.
“You cannot describe workers as frontline and say you’re protecting frontline services, then cut these frontline services in the next breath.
“There is a worrying ‘use it or lose it’ logic emerging here. If the Government’s response is to reduce services without consideration of the value of that service to the community, Canberrans are entitled to ask: what will be closed next?”
“Our public libraries are wonderful free community spaces where people can access the internet, study, participate in activities, or simply find a safe and welcoming place to spend time.
“Service reliability should come from having enough staff, not shrinking the hours people can walk through the door.”
