Page 3056 - Week 11 - Tuesday, 11 September 1990
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repairs and maintenance backlog inherited by the ACT Government from the Commonwealth. This backlog was well documented by the Committee of Inquiry into the Assets and Public Debt of the ACT.
Other important projects include a proposal to improve energy management in the many buildings owned by the Government, an upgrading of existing telecommunications systems, the replacement of the outdated rates collection and motor vehicle registry systems, the provision of a computerised scheduling system for ACTION, and a major examination of mainframe computer needs. We will press ahead with restructuring because of the future savings which will result. If the Commonwealth will not assist, the ACT's borrowings will, of necessity, be correspondingly higher, making the longer term transition to State-type funding that much more difficult.
As a result of the very tight budgetary situation, new policy initiatives are confined to areas of highest priority within the Alliance Government - and this has meant that we have not been able to fund other very worthwhile proposals this year.
I mentioned earlier that winding up the Community Development Fund provided the opportunity to fund some new initiatives. As an example, funding has been provided for an increased level of community sector and employment grants, a new domestic violence refuge, a 24-hour mental health crisis service, an expansion of community services aimed at youth groups and the disabled, and a community tree planting program.
Ms Follett: There is a touch of deja vu here.
Mr Berry: I think we have been here before.
MR KAINE: I thought they would grab you. These are things that you were going to do last year, and did not do. A further $1.1m will be provided to upgrade arts facilities, improve security in Quamby and augment funding currently provided for the Tuggeranong community centre.
A new system of guardianship for people who are unable to look after their own affairs will be introduced into the ACT. It is proposed to establish, within the Magistrates Court, a guardianship function, together with a community advocate, which will draw together related advocacy functions in mental health and youth affairs. An additional amount of $210,000 on a full year basis has been provided for this expansion of advocacy services.
My colleague the Minister for Finance and Urban Services outlined in the Assembly's last session the Government's response to the inquiry into commercial and domestic waste management. Funds of $300,000 in 1990-91, and $650,000 a year thereafter, have been provided to implement those recommendations agreed to by the Government, including the
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