Page 1273 - Week 05 - Tuesday, 11 May 2021
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part of the stimulus package to make sure we are supporting the increase in walking and cycling we have seen in our community. We will continue to make investments there. We have demonstrated through our strategic transport plan we released in August last year that we want to invest more in active travel. We are getting on with the job in every budget.
Canberra Hospital—expansion
DR PATERSON: My question is to the Minister for Health. Minister, can you please update the Assembly on the progress of the Canberra Hospital expansion project, the largest health infrastructure investment ever undertaken by the ACT government?
MS STEPHEN-SMITH: I thank Dr Paterson for her question. Of course, the Canberra Hospital expansion is the delivery of the largest health infrastructure investment ever undertaken by the ACT government. It is on track, and construction is due to be completed in 2024—a situation that would not be the case if the Canberra Liberals had been elected and went back to the drawing board, as they intended to do. We did indeed lodge our development application in March, as we said we were going to do, and it is now open for public comment, because the ACT government remains committed to listening to the views of the Canberra public in the delivery of this critically important healthcare project.
Since partnering with Multiplex in the delivery of these works, the project team has completed design discussions with consumers and local residents, and has also completed two rounds of consultation with more than 120 clinicians across the hospital. That is just some of the consultation we have been undertaking.
Following this extensive consultation and preliminary design development, the development application is open for public comment until 18 June. Development application documents can be found on the planning website under the suburb of Garran, and are also linked from the Canberra Hospital expansion website. We welcome the community’s input on this very important Health project.
Anyone who has recently visited the Canberra Hospital campus will have seen that there are already substantial construction works underway. Some of these new buildings currently under construction will house training facilities, staff areas and functions from buildings 5 and 24, in turn enabling those buildings to be demolished for the critical services building construction to begin.
In advance of this, Multiplex has already commenced preparatory activities, including confirming utilities capacity and resolving design and construction details with utility services providers. The ACT government’s delivery partner has confirmed that construction of the prototype shed at the former CIT Woden site will begin in June, weather permitting. The prototype shed is to provide scale mock-ups of core spaces and rooms.
DR PATERSON: Minister, what key benefits will the Canberra Hospital expansion deliver for the Canberra community?
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