Page 330 - Week 02 - Tuesday, 9 February 2021
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It is a budget delivered under difficult circumstances, but one which has a simple purpose: to deliver what we promised the people of Canberra and to drive Canberra’s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
This budget sets out how we will help grow the ACT’s employment base with investments to support existing industries and grow new ones.
We will fund a strong infrastructure program with significant investments in health, transport, education and training.
We will continue our response to the pandemic with funding for public health management and the vaccine rollout.
We will begin initial works to further expand our walk-in health centre network, used by thousands of Canberrans every month.
We are funding new schools and upgrading existing ones.
And, after meeting our 2020 renewable energy goals, including 100 per cent renewable electricity and reducing net emissions by 40 per cent, we are taking the next steps towards a zero net emissions future.
Overview
The COVID-19 pandemic has posed the greatest economic and health challenge to the territory in our self-governing history. Within weeks of the start of the pandemic in Australia, over 10,000 jobs were lost in the territory.
The impact of this crisis has not been evenly distributed, with the effects being felt more intensely across hospitality, tourism and higher education—some of the ACT’s biggest employment sectors.
The government was there to quickly bolster our health system and support the ACT economy with a series of economic survival measures throughout calendar year 2020—measures that protected thousands of local jobs.
We have acted on expert advice to reduce the risk of COVID-19 spread; and, when it was safe to do so, we carefully reopened our economy. Our investment totals $4.9 billion—providing relief to households and businesses, protecting jobs and supporting our public health system.
I state absolutely categorically that this spending and the hundreds of millions of dollars of revenue forgone was absolutely necessary.
The government is determined to invest now to avoid an even bigger loss of economic output and jobs in the future.
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