Page 496 - Week 02 - Thursday, 11 February 2021
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specifically $14 million to continue and expand the successful PACER program, $2.3 million to extend our COVID mental health support package, and over $3 million to continue the vital Adolescent Mobile Outreach Service. In fulfilment of a Greens election commitment and the parliamentary and governing agreement, there is funding for a Palliative Care ACT respite hub pilot program.
In terms of small items with big impacts, there is a $145,000 investment in health to establish a task force to look at how to insource work that is currently outsourced. This was another election commitment and has been an ongoing concern from a number of angles for a long time. We are glad to see that this task force will be established, and we look forward to hearing and seeing the outcomes once their work is completed.
My Greens colleagues and I remain ambitious and determined to contribute to this government. Every day, and in every budget, we will steer it, and impel it, towards improved action on climate change, on social justice and on the natural environment. We are making good progress. This government is doing far more than most to reduce emissions in our jurisdiction—and doing so in ways that have tangible broader benefits across the whole community. We are also leading in a way that sets a path for others to follow. We must keep upping our efforts at both mitigation and adaptation, especially in the face of the inaction and active sabotage we see from across the lake.
The federal government’s plan for a gas-led recovery is, frankly, a sick joke, which the country will not be laughing about for very long if it is not stopped soon. In fact, Australia is fast becoming a pariah on the world stage, with its pitiful 2030 target of 26 per cent emissions reduction and the likelihood of not even achieving that. Current estimates put the actual likely outcome at around 22 per cent.
Here in the ACT, in contrast, we will keep doing our part. This budget is a good step in showing that we are serious, with $307 million committed to direct emissions reduction strategies. I confidently predict that every Canberran will see the benefits while regions that cling to the technologies, energy sources, jobs and false assumptions of the past will get left behind. Theirs, sadly, will be the old normal. Ours will be better.
We look forward to further investments that continue our journey to a better normal in future budgets, but, given our fiscal position in this global context, we can be proud to be moving in this direction here, today, in this budget, in spite of the challenges we currently face.
On a different note, this will be the last budget that is not guided by the wellbeing framework. We look forward to playing a role in ensuring that the next budget shapes up to deliver in many areas that have not had enough attention in previous years and will be highlighted through the inclusion of wellbeing indicators.
Mr Assistant Speaker, the Greens will be supporting this budget. We look forward to the different estimates committees process being run this year, for the first time, and to the detail stage of the debate next month.
Debate (on motion by Mr Gentleman) adjourned to the next sitting.
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