Page 1570 - Week 06 - Wednesday, 2 June 2021
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ambitious plan for the big Canberra battery to the people of the ACT—a distributed large-scale battery storage system harnessing an emerging technology that varies in size and use. Now, in this first six months of the parliamentary term, we are getting on with the job of delivering this project. I am pleased to advise the Assembly that industry engagement has been incredibly strong and encouraging, and there are many reputable companies that have expressed interest in being involved in this very significant project for Canberra.
We are also helping Canberra households to invest in renewable energy upgrades at a household level through the Sustainable Household Scheme, creating up to 2,000 sustainable jobs, helping families to save hundreds and hundreds of dollars each year in their energy bills, and lowering overall energy consumption in the territory.
Another significant change since the release of the 2019 Infrastructure Plan, and one that I warmly welcome, is a long overdue recognition from the commonwealth government that, as a growing and essential regional hub in this part of Australia, the ACT deserves a fairer proportion of national infrastructure spending. I do not think it is unreasonable to ask for our population share of the national infrastructure spend. It would seem, at least in recent budgets, that we are starting to edge back towards that population share. The commonwealth public service, who are our partners in the delivery of many infrastructure projects, have recognised that the ACT government is a good partner to work with, and it is a step in the right direction that we have been able to work closely with various commonwealth agencies on the development and delivery of a number of key infrastructure priorities.
Given all of these major changes, 2021 is an opportune time to update the territory’s Infrastructure Plan to reflect the new global, national and local context of our infrastructure priorities, to recognise that a number of projects that were outlined in the 2019 plan are now either delivered or underway, and that there will be a need to add to the pipeline, to ensure that we continue to have a rolling 10-year infrastructure plan. Today I can confirm that the government will be undertaking the task of consultation, development and release of an update to the ACT Infrastructure Plan by the end of this calendar year.
As I have mentioned, good construction projects are about more than just construction industry jobs; they are also about improving productivity, connections, educational opportunities and health outcomes. The past year has demonstrated why an infrastructure plan is essential to business and economic confidence, and for keeping Canberrans in work.
The 2020-21 ACT budget continued to prioritise the development of critical infrastructure while keeping Canberrans employed. It included an infrastructure investment program, the largest in the territory’s history, which committed $4.3 billion over the next four years across a range of important infrastructure projects. The bulk of these projects, around $2.8 billion, are in health, education and transport infrastructure. This includes the capital provisions that have been set aside for projects that will go through the tendering process, and where we would not be revealing to the market ahead of that competitive process the full extent of government capital provisioning. This is standard budget practice for Australian states and territories, and
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