Page 939 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 21 April 2021
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ensure that the ACT Fire & Rescue operational response capability are able to meet the increased demand for their services.
An additional $45.2 million of capital funding will be provided to design and construct a joint ACT Fire & Rescue and ACT Ambulance Service station at Clunies Ross Street, Acton. The new Acton station construction is expected to be completed in 2023. Given its location, the new station is expected to be one of the busiest stations and help to improve emergency response times.
An investment of $14.8 million over four years will strengthen first response capability for acute mental health episodes in order to provide in situ mental health assessment treatment and care through the PACER response team. The PACER service is based on an integrated service model that brings together police, paramedics and mental health clinicians to support the safe assessment and treatment of people experiencing acute mental health episodes. The total investment includes $3.9Â million provided to ACT Health for their services relating to this initiative.
There is $2.2 million over two years, commencing in 2020-21, to undertake further investigations into the existence of poly-fluoroalkyl substances, PFAS, at eight current Emergency Services Agency sites and the site of the former Charnwood fire station. This critical work is required to ensure the safety of government sites and workplaces. Some $0.6 million of capital funding will be spent to strengthen critical ICT systems and spatial awareness infrastructure used by frontline staff of the Emergency Services Agency in the delivery of emergency services to the ACT community.
On ACT Policing, this budget builds on the significant investment in the 2019-20 ACT budget for the Police Services Model. There is $2.4 million in 2020-21 for ACT Policing to continue the COVID-19 response through the next phase of the pandemic in 2020-21. This initiative will ensure that the workforce is best placed to respond to the health emergency and public safety compliance requirements. $0.9 million has been provided to ACT Policing for costs associated with combating the 2019-20 bushfire crisis and for the implementation of initiatives to keep members of the community safe during the COVID-19 pandemic, including providing personal protection equipment for police officers and additional cleaning and intercoms at police stations.
$0.7 million will be spent to undertake two feasibility studies to consider strategic accommodation options for the Winchester Police Centre at Belconnen and the ACT Policing Gungahlin presence, currently located at the JESC in Gungahlin. $0.7 million was provided in 2020-21 to support the increase in funding required for the provision of on-call forensic medical services available to ACT Policing. Additional funding will support services such as the medical assessment of people in custody; coronial and criminal investigations, including documenting evidence of injuries from assaults for victims of violent crimes; attending death scenes to assist in the coronial process; and providing expert evidence for court.
Early in 2020-21, $0.3 million was provided to fund a feasibility study to find a viable solution for ACT Policing’s traffic operations centre, TOC. On the basis of this study,
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