Page 3025 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 14 August 2013
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purpose-built facility at the Phillip campus of Canberra College to make sure that Canberra’s pregnant or parenting students have the same educational opportunities as other young people. We plan to have it open in 2015.
There is also $1.6 million allocated in 2013-14 to support the transport of students with disabilities to and from ACT public schools. There is $1.3 million to provide additional support for students with complex learning needs in ACT public schools. There is $1.8 million over two years to establish the new Tuggeranong introductory English centre at the Wanniassa Hills Primary School. This new facility will provide students with limited or no background in speaking English with intensive language tuition before they settle into a mainstream school. And there is $5 million over four years for non-government schools to establish and upgrade preschool infrastructure as well as $2.5 million over four years to support access for non-government school students to high quality ICT infrastructure.
The 2013-14 budget also funds the Chances program, which assists members of our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community to complete nationally accredited training leading to employment. It includes assistance with child care, transport vehicle costs, catering and activities, utilities and consumables.
The Chances program is just one budget initiative supporting Canberra’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community. Others include establishing an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander scholarship program to support members of the community who wish to study or train to gain qualifications. The government is also working with Canberra’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elected Body.
This government is conscious of the need to provide affordable housing for Canberrans. The government has been exploring and implementing innovative solutions to address housing affordability since the first affordable housing action plan was introduced in 2007. Now in its third phase, 98—98, Mr Assistant Speaker—separate initiatives have been introduced under the plan.
CHC Affordable Housing is a key success of the affordable housing action plan. It is a major provider of quality affordable housing in the territory in the purchase and rental markets. Under its agreement with the ACT government, CHC is on its way to delivering 500 affordable rental homes and 500 affordable homes for sale by 2018.
The land rent scheme has been another major innovation in housing affordability. It allows homebuyers to significantly reduce their borrowing by providing an option to rent land from the government rather than buy it outright under a mortgage. More than 1,500 Canberrans have benefited from the land rent scheme since it was introduced.
The government maintains a requirement that 20 per cent of all new homes in greenfield estates must meet affordability thresholds. Starting in 2012, the government introduced new options for meeting the affordability thresholds to encourage innovation and diversity in the types of affordable products that are delivered.
We have also been the most successful jurisdiction in Australia, and punched significantly above our weight, in the national rental affordability scheme, the NRAS.
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