Page 4706 - Week 13 - Tuesday, 10 November 2009
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Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs and Minister for the Arts and Heritage) (11.31), by leave: It gives me great pleasure today to report to the Assembly on some of the achievements and activity of the 12 months since Labor formally returned to government in the ACT on 5 November last year. It has been a year of incredible activity, achievement and purpose, from a government that is united, experienced and as energetic as the day it was first elected.
In every area of service delivery and policy development, Labor has been energetically delivering on the commitments it took to the 2008 election as well as responding to emerging issues, including the advent of the global financial crisis. Labor has spent the past 12 months delivering for the people of Canberra, building a better, more sustainable city and a stronger, more inclusive community. Today I have the pleasure of providing a summary of achievements from the last year. I will also table, for the information of members, a longer, though by no means exhaustive, list of the year’s labours.
Labor’s vision to make the national capital the country’s solar capital, a vision we articulated before the last election, is coming into sharper focus, with the successful introduction of the nation’s most generous feed-in tariff. A thousand homes have had photovoltaic arrays installed since the scheme began. The government has also identified possible sites for a major solar power station and called for expressions of interest for the construction of the facility, in which the ACT government will co-invest. Industry response has been excellent and the expressions of interest are currently being examined.
The first of 100 new-generation clean-diesel buses have joined the ACTION fleet. The buses, worth a total of $49.5 million, have environmental credentials equal to the best of the compressed natural gas buses on the market. And of course they are all wheelchair accessible.
In the past year, GreenPower has formally become the first product that must be offered to all new electricity customers in the ACT, turning what was previously an opt-in system for clean, renewable energy into an opt-out system. That is just one of the myriad ways in which Labor is acting to move towards the long-term target of zero greenhouse gas emissions.
Over the past year, Labor has commissioned a multidisciplinary team from the University of Canberra to conduct research that will feed into the development of the country’s best clean industry policy. Our city has been named by Better Place as the first Australian destination for the rollout of electric car infrastructure, and the government has announced its intention to convert its own fleet to electric over time.
The first sod has been turned on a climate change institute, with the ACT government contributing $2.5 million towards the construction. The institute will attract 90 of the best and brightest minds to work on the challenges of tackling climate change.
A great education is the most valuable gift any government can offer its community. The first year of this term has seen the opening of new government schools where they are needed and a massive investment in what goes on inside all our schools. Four
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