Page 3844 - Week 10 - Thursday, 27 August 2009
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I am pleased to advise the Assembly today that while the package was only announced in late February, passed in late March, as at the end of June, $11.2 million had been expended on delivering a broad range of projects. This equates to around 90 per cent of the available funding for the 2008-09 year.
It is due to the strength of the territory’s financial position that we had the capacity for this investment program. Despite the impacts of the global financial crisis, we are still in a position to deliver this and future programs for moving forward. This is a good outcome for Canberra workers and employers, as it demonstrates that the government has taken firm steps to provide a flow of work to sectors that were affected by the deteriorating national economy and the emerging uncertainty.
Turning to the outcomes and achievements of the 2008-09 capital program, we successfully delivered $296 million worth of capital expenditure, to date the largest infrastructure spend on record. To put this in perspective, this achievement is more than double the level of expenditure recorded in 2004-05 of $129 million.
While acknowledging that expenditure underspends were recorded last year, it is important to note, however, that only a handful of large projects accounted for more than half of this underspend—in fact, only 10 projects out of over 500 in the total program, to be exact.
The 2008-09 program delivered a range of important infrastructure outcomes and benefits to the community, along with some iconic and fundamental developments. This has been a year of records, firsts and significant achievements for the territory in relation to infrastructure. We have achieved a record program spend in 2008-09, but most notably we delivered a record 4,339 dwelling sites across the territory. The first residential blocks were offered for sale in three new suburbs in Gungahlin—Bonner, Casey and Crace—and additional blocks became available in new stages of existing estates in Franklin, Harrison, west Macgregor, Bruce and Forde.
We delivered the territory’s first adult correctional facility, Australia’s first prison built and operating according to human rights principles. We delivered Bimberi Youth Justice Centre, also the first youth custodial facility in Australia built and operated under human rights principles. We have seen additional and continuing works begin and significant progress at Canberra’s International Arboretum and Gardens and two new schools were delivered, Kingsford Smith school and Harrison. The Canberra Glassworks were completed, which is Australia’s only cultural centre that is wholly dedicated to contemporary glass art.
In turning in more detail to the land release program, the program is a vital part of the government’s economic, spatial and social strategy to support the needs of a growing population, changing households and an expanding economy. Importantly, the program delivers a range of housing initiatives arising from the affordable housing action plan.
Land to accommodate 4,339 dwelling sites was released, the highest volume of residential land release since self-government. The majority of sites released were in Casey, Bonner, west Macgregor and north Weston. The 2008-09 target of 4,208 sites
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