Page 3678 - Week 12 - Wednesday, 23 October 2013
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We are a knowledge economy. We have many successful research and development enterprises and knowledge businesses based in Canberra, while many export their services overseas. The successful operation of programs such as the NITCA e-government cluster, CollabIT, the establishment of the INSPIRE platform for education and the successful implementation of the digital hubs program for the NBN are all examples of the current ACT government’s commitment to Canberra and the region’s digital future.
Investment in our people, technology and innovation will create the right conditions to support business and consumer confidence in the local economy. We want to ensure all Canberrans share in our economic opportunities.
The digital Canberra project is an opportunity for us to diversify our economy, give businesses access to new customers and markets and give citizens greater choice in how they work and use services, and it will connect our seniors and youth in new ways.
Through the 2013-14 financial year, this government has made important progress on tax reform. I am pleased to note that we have reduced the rate of conveyance duty. We have also cut the duty on general insurance premiums from eight per cent to six per cent and the duty on life insurance premiums from four per cent to three per cent. The government will also implement two red tape reduction bills to streamline the economy.
Our community will continue to benefit from vibrant town centres, well-designed open spaces and a sustainable and integrated transport network. We need to balance the transport needs, housing developments and city growth with the aspirations of our residents to build a truly sustainable city. The city plan and capital metro are major elements of developing our city.
But other important urban projects are contributing to the liveability of our city, such as new passenger information display boards at bus stops and digital displays at major bus stations by the end of June 2014, the works that commenced in February 2013 on the creation of the dual carriageway Majura parkway, with completion expected in 2016, new pay parking mechanisms and a new Woden bus interchange.
This government has achieved a lot in our first year. We have achieved much of what we committed to achieve through our election platform and our parliamentary agreement, and work will continue on these.
Two key reforms which this government has committed to are the national disability insurance scheme and the national education reform agreement. The ACT is at the forefront of the national disability insurance scheme, a significant, complex social reform to the way in which disability care and support will be funded in this country—the implementation of the national disability insurance scheme, or NDIS. The NDIS will allow people with significant disabilities more choice in how they live their lives and access to an economically sustainable and viable universal social insurance scheme.
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