2012 ACT Chief Minister's Inclusion Awards

Winners, Finalists and Judges comments:

Category Winners
Inclusion in Small Business	No winner awarded in this category
Commendation to:	Pialligo Garden Lots
Inclusion in Medium to Large Business	National Mailing & Marketing
Inclusion - ACT Government or Agency	Canberra Theatre Centre
Inclusion in Education and Training	St Edmunds College
Inclusion in Sports	Lord's Taverners Australia, ACT Branch
Inclusion in the Arts	Belconnen Arts Centre
Inclusion in Hospitality and Tourism	Novotel Canberra
Innovation in Inclusion	ACT Social Enterprise Hub
The Margaret Spalding Award (Inclusion by an Individual)	Mrs Louise Bannister
Commendation to:	Mr Sava Matic

Finalists

ACT Social Enterprise Hub
ACTION Buses
Alfred Deakin High School
Belconnen Arts Centre
Belconnen Community Service (Combined Arts Program)
Belconnen Community Service (West Belconnen School Holiday Program)
Canberra Labor Club Group
Capital Community Housing Inc.
Communities @ Work - Fun for Youth program
Cranleigh School
Dan Murphy's, Phillip
Gungahlin Jets Australian Football Club
Lord's Taverners Australia - ACT Branch
Maloney's Real Estate
McBeath House - Staff, Family and Neighbours
Merici College - Mentors Program
Mr Peter Downs (The Inclusion Club)
Mr Phil Whitelock (The Wheelchair Factory)
Mr Sava Matic
Mrs Katherine Wills
Mrs Louise Bannister
Ms Amelia Arcidiacono
Ms Debbie McMullen
Ms Fiona McIntosh
Ms Jacqueline Ryles
Ms Jenny Koenig
Ms Laura Catanzariti
National Mailing and Marketing Pty Ltd
Nican's Know Before You Go Project
Novotel Canberra
Pialligo Garden Lots - Mr Roy Priest
Red Cross ACT - MATES Program
Red Cross ACT - Meals on Wheels Program
Scooters Australia, Canberra
Southern Cross Early Childhood School
St Edmund's College Hospitality and Food Science - Dean Parkes
The Canberra Theatre Centre
Wheelchair Taxi 919
YMCA of Canberra

The 2012 ACT Chief Minister's Inclusion Award for Excellence

The ACT Social Enterprise Hub is a virtual network, linking organisations with partners and business mentors to establish social enterprises - feasible and profitable businesses that also satisfy a social purpose. From snails to stationary, there are social enterprises throughout Canberra, making an enormous impact on the lives that they touch through inclusion. Their broad range of enterprises include:

• Cafe Ink is operated by the Woden Community Service and engages disadvantaged people offering paid employment, skill development and training.
• Magpie Blah! Blah! sells greeting cards based on John Beckhouse's distinctive drawings. Living with autism, as well as severe hearing impairment, John's art is now a form of self-expression and employment.
• IGA Spence and Medius Ventures through the ACT Social Enterprise Hub have made a real difference by providing ongoing job opportunities for people with intellectual disability.
• Paperworks provides participation of people that are socially marginalised due to their disability or disadvantage, through the creation of beautiful handmade paper.
• Ronnie's Succulent Snails satisfies the hungry restaurant market with fresh snails. It also provides sustainable employment and a stimulating working environment for Ronnie, who has an intellectual disability and a chronic epileptic condition.
• White Nile Catering The women of White Nile all arrived as refuges from Sudan and are working together to create a new life in Australia. The Hub has facilitated their inclusion in society through exotic Sudanese cooking.

Inclusion in Medium - Large Business

National Mailing & Marketing
National Mailing and Marketing is Canberra's independent warehousing and distribution centre. They have been acknowledged tonight for creating and maintaining an inclusive work environment. The have for example, modified their workplace to enable an employee with disability to continue to work with them for more than 15 years. National Mailing and Marketing have always encouraged employees with a disability to reach their true potential and are recognised by co-workers as valuable team members and work colleagues.

Inclusion in Agency or Directorate - ACT Government

Canberra Theatre Centre
The Canberra Theatre Centre is Canberra's premier performing arts venue, and have been providing world-class performing arts and entertainment to the people of Canberra and surrounding regions for almost 50 years. They have an impressive existing track record of inclusion, and continue to innovate and develop industry best practice. This is highlighted by the recent introduction of smart phones for theatre captioning. The Centre also demonstrates their commitment by consulting and partnering with several disability organisations in order to deliver some of their assisted service initiatives.

Inclusion in Education & Training

St Edmunds College Canberra - Food Science & Hospitality
St Edmund's is a dynamic boys school that recognise and nurture the unique qualities in each student. The initiatives at St Edmunds include a mentoring program and an inclusive environment that provides suitable courses for students with disability. They also show a strong commitment to fund raising and other activities that aim to improve the lives of all students as well as provide financial support to students with a disability to undertake courses at the school. The College also recognise the limitations of their buildings and are undertaking significant steps to make the school more accessible.

Inclusion in Sports

Lord's Taverners Australia, ACT Branch
The Lord's Taverners Australia, ACT Branch is the local branch of the international sporting organisation dedicated to encouraging participation in cricket and other sporting activities for people with a disability and our disadvantaged youth. The judges recognized the organisations considerable fundraising efforts, averaging $50,000 annually, which support an extensive range of programs and initiatives designed to encourage and enable young people with disabilities to participate in sporting activities that range from simple participation to elite athlete level. The Lord's Taverners Association - giving the young and disadvantaged a sporting chance.

Inclusion in the Arts

Belconnen Arts Centre
The Belconnen Arts centre core objective is to create a welcoming space for the engagement in arts and cultural activity by offering opportunities for all people to participate. The Centre is an excellent example of a community facility that has been successfully designed with people with disability in mind. The staff have personal experience in working with people with disability and this is reflected by the significant number of programs, activities and events that are specifically for people with disability.

Inclusion in Tourism & Hospitality

Novotel Canberra
Novotel Canberra offers premium hotel accommodation in the heart of the Nation's Capital close to the retail, entertainment and business district. While ideal for all accommodation needs, the judges were impressed by the Novotel Canberra's commitment to providing both work experience placements as well as employing people with disability and the level of training offered to those employees. The hotel is also proudly one of the largest providers of accessible rooms in the local area. Congratulations Novotel Canberra on this deserved win tonight.

Innovation in Inclusion

ACT Social Enterprise Hub
The ACT Social Enterprise Hub is a virtual network linking organisations with partners and business mentors to establish social enterprises - feasible and profitable businesses that also satisfy a social purpose. Specifically, the ACT Hub aims to support enterprises that provide sustainable employment opportunities for people excluded from the labour market. Their award tonight is in recognition of the truly deep and long-term impact the Hub has had on the lives of people with disabilities. Their social enterprise partnerships are truly innovative.

The Margaret Spalding - Inclusion by an Individual

Mrs Louise Bannister
Louise is a passionate promoter of social inclusion, human rights, advocacy, equity of access, women's health and wellbeing, as well as community education. She is a committed consumer representative for people with disabilities on a wide range of ACT Health and ACT Government committees. The judges have unanimously applauded the fact that Louise has contributed far beyond the core tasks of the roles she is involved in, and has dedicated many additional volunteer hours to perfect resources as well as giving of her time in speaking with participants.