Page 1011 - Week 04 - Tuesday, 15 March 2005
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every senior secondary student must formally plan a transition from school to further study or work. For the vast majority of young Canberrans, this transition will be smooth. For the small minority who encounter difficulty, the government’s training pathway guarantee steps in, easing them into formal training, keeping them focused on the future.
Strengthening our community means strengthening our entire community, from our youngest members to our oldest. This is another theme running through The Canberra plan—a city for all ages.
Our ageing community will need a different mix of housing and health services. Through our new building for an ageing community strategy, we have put in place planning and other processes that will deliver 1,000 beds and roughly the same number of independent living units over the next five years. Since December, six blocks have been sold to service providers and another two are under consideration; two projects have commenced construction; another two are imminent; another greenfields site will be released this financial year and 12 projects are in the design and application phases.
In an Australian first, the ACT and commonwealth governments have just agreed to a Belconnen lakeside development that will deliver another 100 beds and 150 self-care units. The challenges of our ageing demographic are complex and extend beyond health and housing. The government is developing a population strategy to tease out the implications for workforce planning and potential future skill shortages.
There has been talk in recent days of the ACT’s narrow revenue base. This is an historic legacy. But it is not one we need to endure in perpetuity. Nor will we. That is why the fourth focus of the Canberra plan is this city’s knowledge future.
Under the plan we have launched a business springboard program, giving budding entrepreneurs access to the skills and know-how of successful business people. We have invested $10 million in a new School of Health Science at the University of Canberra and supported a new Construction Industry Training Centre. Both will deepen our pool of skilled workers, ready to turn ideas and knowledge into assets for the territory.
We are also reaching out beyond our borders, exploiting the expertise of others, building contacts and creating new markets. The Canberra-California bridge program, launched in July, is opening the door to global markets and to global finance.
Last August, we set up screenACTion, the ACT Office of Film, Television and Digital Media, to galvanise the local industry, help it to a bigger slice of the lucrative production and post-production markets and encourage the development of an industry cluster. Clustering and other forms of collaboration are transforming the economy and partnerships for growth is a theme running through the Canberra plan.
In the past year we have put in place:
• a Canberra partnership board, bringing together business, researchers and government to identify opportunities for growth and export;
• a $30 million super venture capital partnership, which will take great local ideas and turn them into commercial realities and jobs; and
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