Page 2691 - Week 08 - Tuesday, 23 June 2009
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only does this initiative contribute to a fair and safe community through homelessness services, but also it is contributing to the theme of a sustainable future. All housing built in the ACT under the nation building and jobs plan will be built to conform to a six-star energy efficiency rating, which includes insulation, draught proofing, solar hot water heaters, energy efficient lighting and energy efficient glazing, shading and a water tank.
Canberra’s new prison is a state-of-the-art facility which focuses on rehabilitation of offenders and is Australia’s first fully human rights compliant prison. In addition, the Bimberi Youth Justice Centre became fully operational at the end of 2008. Bimberi is the first youth custodial facility in Australia to be designed, built and operated under human rights legislation. The purpose-built centre is designed in the style of a secondary school campus and can accommodate up to 40 young people. Young detainees at Bimberi have access to education, vocational training, rehabilitative programs and recreational activities.
The ACT government is committed to ensuring a quality education for all in the ACT. This begins with early childhood education. Delivering on our commitment to early childhood health and vulnerable families, four early childhood schools have been established at Lyons, Isabella Plains, Narrabundah and Southern Cross at Scullin. These schools operate as early learning and development centres, providing integrated services for children from birth to age 8 and their families. The sites will eventually provide a range of family services. Discussion is taking place with Health and the Department of Disability, Housing and Community Services in relation to the range of services to be provided.
In September 2008 the government announced that the commonwealth and ACT Labor governments had come to a historic agreement that will see all ACT government preschool students having access to 15 hours of free preschool. The ACT Labor government is committed to providing Canberra’s children with the best start in life, and the provision of 15 hours of free preschool will greatly add to the educational opportunities of our preschool students and cement the ACT as a national leader in the provision of early childhood education.
In both the 2008-09 and the 2009-10 budgets the ACT government has invested significantly in the provision of additional teaching staff to improve teacher to student ratios in all ACT government schools, as well as investing in maintaining the ACT’s strong record in literacy and numeracy. In May 2009 we announced that as part of our commitment to improve literacy and numeracy outcomes for ACT students we had set the new targets to be achieved by 2013 in the national assessment program for literacy and numeracy as well as in education outcomes for Indigenous students.
The building the education revolution component of the nation building and jobs plan is assisting the ACT government to deliver on our commitment of schools for the 21st century by funding approximately $230 million worth of projects in our public and private schools—for infrastructure projects, including libraries, halls and sporting centres. In addition, the ACT government has invested $189 million in the 2008-09 and 2009-10 capital works budget for public schools, including construction of the new Kambah P-10 School, Harrison high school and Gungahlin college and in-school infrastructure refurbishment.
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