Page 1446 - Week 05 - Tuesday, 6 May 2008
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
Building the Future will deliver a massive facelift to the look, feel and functionality of the places we love, with $100 million allocated over five years.
$53 million of this will dramatically expand the capital upgrades program, targeting community amenities—picnic areas, barbecues, public toilets and parks. There’ll be further work on the Belconnen Foreshore, more than $3 million for the refurbishment of Bunda Street, in Civic, upgraded pathways for the Jerrabomberra Wetlands, and more cycle paths.
There’s an extra $6 million for pavement upgrades, $6 million for shopping centre upgrades, $4 million for lighting improvements, $6 million for playground and park upgrades and another $6 million for the upkeep and landscaping of our wonderful urban open spaces.
Mr Speaker, the people of Canberra have been fortunate to be served, over two decades of self-government, by a public sector of high calibre. Across our offices, on our streets, in our classrooms and in our hospital wards, our public sector delivers services of exceptional quality to the community.
Today, through Building the Future, the Government makes an investment in those men and women, with $50 million over five years for Information and Communication Technology projects across government. This infrastructure investment will ensure that our public servants have the best possible professional tools at their disposal, ensuring that they can be as effective and efficient as possible.
The investment will not be limited to “back end” systems and infrastructure. A number of initiatives relate directly to service delivery.
Every secondary school is already scheduled for connection to the ACT Government network through the Smart Schools, Smart Students Initiative. Today, Building the Future sets aside an additional $7.7 million to enable 95 per cent of ACT primary schools to also be connected to the fibre network.
A number of ICT initiatives relating to patient care, monitoring and diagnostics are also included in the health system investment program.
Mr Speaker, our city is growing. Net interstate migration is at its highest level since 1993. And as a Government and a community we are actively courting greater numbers to choose Canberra as a home, to combat the skill shortages that are constraining our businesses.
Just last week I announced a massive boost to the number of residential blocks to be released over the next five years, to meet pent-up demand and address supply-side factors affecting housing affordability. The land release program also provides for significant releases of commercial and industrial land.
To support this significant schedule, Building the Future provides for a major augmentation of capital works funding, totalling $200 million. This investment will primarily be used to support the growth of the city that will take place as new areas are opened up.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .