Page 2464 - Week 07 - Tuesday, 1 July 2008
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As members, I am sure, are aware, the 2008-09 budget includes $300 million through a first-tranche investment to establish a health system for the future—$300 million of a first-tranche of a billion dollars over the next 10 years; $250 million for the territory’s transport system, to increase its efficiency and meet the needs of a growing economy; $100 million for improvements to urban amenities; $50 million for cutting-edge information and communications technology; $100 million for adaptation to climate change; a $200 million boost to the existing capital works program to support growth, particularly in the land supply program; and $31 million in feasibility studies to plan for future infrastructure needs.
To support this stunning investment, the government is undertaking a number of actions to ensure the continued delivery of the infrastructure investment program. We are investing $51 million over four years on a range of initiatives to address the local impacts of the national skills shortage, including a range of initiatives aimed at addressing vocational and trade-based skills, including $4.2 million over four years to support vocational and education training through Australian apprenticeships in the ACT.
The successful live in Canberra campaign will also be continued, with $838,000 over four years to ensure that we continue to provide funding to raise awareness around Australia and the world that Canberra is a great place to live and work and to attract skilled workers.
The budget also includes $600,000 to replace ACT Procurement Solutions’ dedicated IT business system, to improve the effectiveness of delivery of capital project management services by ACT Procurement Solutions to government clients.
We are also finalising a review of the prequalification system. A draft paper has been circulated to industry and other stakeholders for comment. The changes to the prequalification process are largely aimed at making it easier and more attractive to industry to bid for ACT government work.
We are also reviewing the template contract documents used for tendering, the aim being to simplify and shorten the procurement tendering process, provide greater clarity to contractors and provide greater transparency in relation to ACT government standard requirements.
All these initiatives are aimed at improving and enhancing the deliverability of our capital program and are aimed at turning a good system into a great system.
Indeed, to reinforce the basis of the question, namely, acknowledgement of ACT capital programs and acknowledgement by the Master Builders Association, the leading industry sector representing organisations in relation to civil contracts for construction in the ACT, at its major awards night last week, acknowledged the ACT government project, the Gungahlin Drive extension, was the project of the year, the No 1 ACT government project. We know how to deliver infrastructure; we know how to deliver capital works. We lead the ACT in the delivery of capital works infrastructure in the territory.
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