Page 380 - Week 02 - Tuesday, 22 March 2022
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the broader community to be ambitious too and has fostered a melting pot of people and ideas in Canberra.
The third mission is to prioritise further knowledge-based economic growth, based on inclusive innovation and responsible investment. As University of Canberra Vice-Chancellor Professor Paddy Nixon has said, Canberra is a place that uses its people and, ultimately, its knowledge to lead, to innovate and to set itself apart. So our ambition is to position Canberra as a city where innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship are encouraged and celebrated.
Innovation precincts already flourish in Canberra, based principally around our tertiary education and research institutions. Our focus is on making these precincts the norm and further establishing Canberra as a city-wide hub for developing and trialling new ideas like vehicle-to-grid solutions and virtual power plants.
We will continue to support and encourage our entrepreneurial ecosystems with relationships between higher education and research sectors, the business community and government. We will work to make investment in Canberra even easier through an investment facilitation service. Investors will be attracted to the opportunities that our city presents, the values that we represent and the ease with which they can do business. The ACT government will prioritise investment that provides a return to the community by enhancing liveability and delivering environmental and social benefits.
By focusing on aviation access, for example, we will continue the recovery of our tourism industry back to a visitor expenditure of $2.5 billion annually and beyond. We have put forward some projects that will contribute to achieving the missions. This is not an exhaustive list and we expect that this list will grow as we progress. These not only have direct benefits to the government and local businesses but create additional benefits for our community.
The first example is zero-emission homes and communities. The Big Canberra Battery provides a decentralised network of community battery infrastructure. This, combined with incentives to remove gas from homes and reduce transport emissions, gives Canberra an opportunity to pilot the world’s first decarbonised suburbs.
This is an investment that could lead to savings that will support more public and community infrastructure. We will continue to support households to increase their efficiency through rooftop solar and upgrades to heating, cooling and ventilation. We can show the world that decarbonisation can be achieved whilst at the same time creating jobs, growing our economy and saving households and businesses money.
The second example is the Canberra Airport freight hub. Canberra Airport is uniquely positioned to connect the Canberra region to expanding domestic and global markets. We will continue to work with the airport to secure direct international services and re-establish Canberra’s international aviation connections. Direct aviation access enables the realisation of Canberra as an international freight hub.
Continued and coordinated investment in the transport networks surrounding the airport will enable the efficient movement of goods, increase access to markets and enable private sector investment in supply chain and logistics infrastructure.
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