Assistant minister for families and community services Emma Davidson. THE ACT government has rejected calls from the Opposition to establish a poverty taskforce to tackle the rising rate of Canberrans living in poverty, blaming the problem on the federal government. Assistant minister for families and community services Emma Davidson said a poverty taskforce would delay action and divert resources from initiatives that address the root causes of poverty in the ACT, before she placed the blame on the federal government. She stressed that the big levers controlling poverty in Canberra are held by the Morrison Government, and called for increased welfare payments, funding primary healthcare through the Medicare Benefits Scheme and funding for the Specialist Homelessness Sector.