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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 14 Hansard (10 December) . . Page.. 5081 ..

MR WOOD (continuing):

in its final stages of development, will provide a strategic framework for the delivery of government services across the ACT. It will define Canberrans' aspirations for their city and for their quality of life. Just as importantly, the Canberra Plan will provide an overarching framework that will enable services to be delivered in a co-ordinated, effective and efficient way. This is a major step forward.

This is an important point: successive governments, as well as industry and community groups, have in the past undertaken some notable work to address various changes. Why then has this work had less than maximum impact? Why then are we still trying to grapple with the same problem?

This government will certainly succeed where others have not done so. That is because for the first time we have taken the opportunity to look up from solving existing problems to focus on what might be; not just the actual but also the ideal; upon questions of what future change could and should mean. This government is not just practical; it is also imaginative, indeed visionary. So we have adopted a visionary approach to our challenges.

Canberra faces social, environmental and economic challenges that we need to address as our city grows. Government service delivery must respond to these challenges. The government is working hard with the Canberra community to address these challenges. Canberra is unique. Taking account of the actual final solution, what is encompassed in the Canberra plan, will be well suited to meeting our particular challenges.

As Mr Hargreaves has illustrated so well, this government provides and continues to provide services fairly to all areas of Canberra. I would like to highlight even more examples of commitment-the services that impact on the health and wellbeing of all Canberrans. These include:

improving mental health services;

the spending on new mental health initiatives and the expansion of older persons, adult, child and adolescent mental health teams;

in-patient and discharge services;

care support;

drug and alcohol treatments;

court liaison;

improving the taxi subsidy scheme for people with disabilities and ensuring the benefits reach those most in need;

improving bus services and introducing the one-fare structure, a very important step;

increasing government funding to community organisations;

providing enhanced services to older and frail people and younger people with disabilities;

boosting after-hours GP services by $700,000;

committing significant funds to working collaboratively with the Commonwealth to provide a range of services for people with severe to profound disability, and their families, including accommodation, respite and other support services; and

building adaptable housing.

We are committed to invigorating local communities with refurbishments to local shopping centres to make shopping safer in pleasant surroundings. We are revitalising

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