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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 05 Hansard (Friday, 14 May 2004) . . Page.. 1994 ..

insufficient. I do not see it being tightly targeted to provide the best outcomes—for example, youth centres and trained staff, which is what we need to see more of. I think that providing skilled staff for 18 hours per week at Lanyon Youth Centre is far too little to attract and retain the kids who ought to be spending more time there rather than being on the streets in the Tuggeranong Valley.

The funding for the Birragai Outdoor Learning Centre is incredibly overdue as it is the replacement of an essential facility. Funding for this vital facility should have been appropriated at the first opportunity in 2003-04 but was not because the Stanhope government delayed the decision. It faffed around on the whole outdoor education policy. If the project at Birragai is completed on time, the delay experienced means that, for at least two years, Tuggeranong Valley schoolchildren will not have experienced the Birragai program, a most worthy program. This is scandalous.

I will now talk further on emergency services funding specifically for the Brindabella electorate. What about a bit of action rather than delay, delay, delay? The work on Calwell ambulance station is welcome and regional priorities are properly targeted. That is a good move by the government. A lot of infrastructure in the Kambah area was destroyed on 18 January 2003 and it is high time that it is replaced. The funding for additional community fire units is most welcome and targets what I believe to be a critically important component of the overall bushfire prevention and response program.

While I realise that there are many pressures on the budget, the funding is inadequate for the number of teams the ACT should have. Twenty new teams, normally a maximum of 12 residents, one trailer and equipment per team will be introduced, bringing the total number of CFUs to 28. It must be stressed that one CFU is capable of defending one street; therefore, in vulnerable suburbs of the size of Kambah—a frontier suburb, if you like—which has about 4,000 houses and a very strong westerly and north-westerly fire weather approach, realistically 10 CFUs would be required. We cannot hope to meet that sort of objective, but we should be aiming for a little better than a total of seven CFUs for the Tuggeranong Valley. That is the total for the Tuggeranong Valley, let alone for a suburb the size of Kambah.

The messengers program in the Tuggeranong Valley is a good program. It could certainly be better promoted to assist youth at risk, giving them another goal or interest in life. I would like to see its work better targeted in youth centres but still operated by the Tuggeranong Community Arts Association. If we can attract more of our youth to youth centres through programs like the messengers program—surely this must be the aim—the more successful these centres will become. If they are running successfully, they are better focusing assistance programs to help kids. When the word gets around, the youth are more likely to attend and become much more attached to the centres rather than to Lake Tuggeranong.

I thank the government for the positive initiatives and funding for key areas of my shadow portfolio responsibilities and my electorate of Brindabella. However, I reiterate my disappointment that more was not done in the areas of education, police and youth. I only hope that these areas will be specifically identified as priority areas through this year for the next budget.

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