Page 553 - Week 02 - Thursday, 24 March 2022
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including the CIT project in Woden; over $870 million in new health infrastructure; and $1.4 billion to upgrade and expand our city’s sustainable and connected transport network.
Specifically, the budget review includes over $150 million invested in new and improved school infrastructure, including: a new zero-emissions primary school and early childhood centre in Strathnairn, in west Belconnen, to open in 2025; the modernisation of the Narrabundah College in the inner south; and a significant redevelopment of Garran Primary School in the Woden Valley.
There is funding to begin planning for a food organics and garden organics waste recovery facility. There is funding for better technology and more park-and-ride facilities, to assist traffic flows and manage disruption across the territory’s traffic network, as this major infrastructure program rolls out. There is also funding to progress the electrification of the Woden bus depot.
These investments combine to create and protect local jobs. This supports our economic recovery and provides lasting transformative infrastructure that provides economic opportunity for all Canberrans.
In the budget review the government will also establish a concessional loan facility as the second phase of our policy response to support the remediation of flammable cladding on private buildings—an initiative that will, first and foremost, support affected home owners, while also facilitating a further pipeline of construction works.
We will continue to protect Canberra’s unique environment, building on the $70 million we announced in the 2021-22 budget with an additional $13 million investment in this budget review which will, amongst other initiatives, further expand the Healthy Waterways project.
I have said before that our city, and this government, should be judged on how we support the vulnerable. The 2021-22 budget delivered over $75 million in additional funding to support those most in need, including new funding to expand homelessness services, increased community and multicultural sector funding, and more support for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Canberrans. In what has been one of the toughest periods in our city’s history, that support has enabled people to reach out and get help where they need it. That support has been critical and it has been available.
Through the budget review, the government will provide $2½ million to further expand specialist homelessness service capacity, transitioning Winter Lodge from a six-month to a 12-month operating facility, and providing funding for a community mental health specialist to support the transition for rough sleepers.
The government has also invested $3.7 million to allow for non-Australian residents who are overlooked by the Australian government to access the pandemic leave disaster payment. Ongoing community safety will also be ensured by providing over $18 million in additional police funding to maintain specialist protective services, such as tactical responses, intelligence, and search and rescue capability.
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