Page 1074 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 20 March 2013
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Canberrans on a daily basis. For this reason we need communities to have a direct say on what they consider to be most important to improve their local places.
The government recognises and continues to prioritise transport, municipal, and information and communication technology infrastructure. Other priorities include urban renewal, waste management and maintaining open-space assets to provide for the needs of our local communities.
The government released Growth, diversification and jobs: a business development strategy for the ACT on 30 April 2012. The strategy has three strategic imperatives: the right business environment, supporting business investment and accelerating business innovation. The strategy is a living document and will align to various election commitments and responses to developments such as the Asian white paper, the digital city strategy and StudyCanberra.
Implementation of the strategy will foster the right business environment to make Canberra a preferred location for business. The government has made significant progress in implementing the strategy. The government plans to report on outcomes to the Legislative Assembly mid-2013.
The ACT is leading the nation in undertaking significant taxation reform. The ACT is the first of the states and territories to undertake significant taxation reform, including abolishing conveyance duty over the next 20 years. The ACT taxation review found that the ACT’s current taxation system, like all other states and territories, is inefficient and recommended significant changes to ensure a sustainable taxation system into the future.
In response, the government announced major reforms to the territory’s taxation system as part of the 2012-13 budget. The government released A fairer, simpler and more efficient tax system, which outlined the government’s plan to abolish inefficient taxes and to make the system fairer and more efficient over time. This will allow the territory to make investments for the benefit of current and future generations.
The ACT has a strong and vibrant tertiary education sector. This sector is important for job creation, such as the University of Canberra hospital in Bruce. The opportunities for Canberra extend well beyond direct economic impacts. Canberra is recognised internationally as a place of learning, innovation and creativity. The government is committed to fostering growth and opportunities flowing from education and research.
To continue to provide nationally competitive education and training, we need to keep improving our systems. Some elements of that include the ACT school leadership strategy, opening new government schools where they are needed and understanding that education funding needs to meet the needs of our school system. This means investing in new schools to match demographic changes as well as providing for the need to promote learning opportunities.
Franklin is the latest addition to the highly successful early childhood school model introduced in 2009, offering both schooling and child care to young children from
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