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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 4 Hansard (6 May) . . Page.. 1001 ..

will continue for a further two years, with five more young Canberrans to be taken on by the Parks and Conservation Service under a scheme costing $180,000. A total of $435,000 will be allocated to fund an additional 15 graduate administrative assistants, bringing the total number to be recruited in 1997-98 to 20.

Mr Speaker, we are also determined to help older unemployed Canberrans who have been retrenched or made redundant. We will do this by expanding the New Future in Small Business program. An extra $118,000 has been set aside in this budget to fund a total of six programs that will benefit 96 people by equipping them with essential skills and support to make the transition into private enterprise. Of the 100 participants who have completed previous training courses, just over half have started a new business, while a third have successfully found other employment. It has been a very successful program. As outlined in our special budget paper Creating Jobs for Canberra, the Government has also maintained resources to allow existing labour market initiatives to continue, including funding for three open access centres, the employment grants program, the women's work force development scheme and Working Connections.

Mr Speaker, the second aim of our strategy is to attract new business opportunities to Canberra and provide the right economic climate that allows existing firms to expand. In the past two years, the ACT Government has worked hard to establish Canberra's reputation as a great place in which to live and work and do business. Here, for the first time, local government is working with business, not against it, and the results are encouraging. We have reduced the amount of red tape, we have totally restructured our business agency and staffed it with people who understand how business works, and we have got out there in the marketplace, instead of sitting back and assuming that companies will simply want to come here.

We have established a one-stop shop and a 1800 hotline number for any business seeking assistance, so that when a business wants assistance or wants to know about Canberra the first person you speak to will be the same person who looks after you every step of the way through whatever government department you need to access. We have developed a Canberra region industry plan to increase the level of industry development in the ACT and south-eastern region. Companies and consortiums bidding for contracts over $1m or construction projects over $5m are now required to identify the level of local involvement and benefits to the ACT economy at the tender stage. Firms that demonstrate a higher level of local industry participation will be given a greater weighting when their tender is evaluated.

We have set up the ACT Supplier Development Committee to maximise the potential benefits to local firms of the Commonwealth's outsourcing program. We have introduced a new business migration strategy to bring new skills and new money to the national capital. And we have created a Business Development Fund in cooperation with the private sector. This fund will be used to invest on a commercial basis in ventures that have real and sustainable benefits for the Territory. Currently, there is $4m available to invest in new projects. But we will not stop there. One of the most successful programs established by this Government is the business incentive scheme. I understand that those opposite are a little bit embarrassed but - - -

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