Page 1708 - Week 06 - Wednesday, 4 June 2014
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initiatives to restore degraded box gum woodland, research projects to better understand how to avoid and mitigate the potential impacts on the pink-tailed worm-lizard from urban residential development, and other matters around the biannual bird population and nesting surveys, finalising the statutory plan of management and operational plans for how we are going to do fire management and conservation strategies and time frames and how we manage the fuel load in a way that also protects those vulnerable species.
There are other areas in the TAMS directorate in particular that see a lot of environmental work going on, including the money for the enhanced biodiversity program which provides additional resources to tackle weeds, to further control rabbit populations and a boost for the park care groups across Canberra, groups that add enormously to the work parks rangers do. That is volunteer time and it is an enormous contribution. I am very keen that the government, by providing additional park rangers to support those groups, enables them to be very closely tied into the government’s objectives so that there is a very strong partnership between park care and the parks service so that we look after our wonderful natural areas to the highest possible standard.
I also want to mention the parks and city services review which took place as part of this budget program. It is a real credit to TAMS that the expenditure review committee went over it with a fine-tooth comb—it is fair to say that ERCs are generally pretty rigorous—and found that parks and city services is operating incredibly efficiently. There are some suggestions for improvements in business and operating models, and TAMS will be taking those on board. But it recognised that, in fact, additional resources are needed for parks and city services to maintain the look and feel of our city and provide the urban amenity that Canberrans so treasure. I am pleased that over the next four years more than $15 million is allocated in the budget to enhance the role of parks and city services to continue to look after this city in a way Canberrans expect.
There is much more to say about the budget and I am sure there will be further opportunities in this place to discuss those items. In summing up, I am happy to support the motion. As a Greens minister I will continue to work on developing budgets that recognise the needs of vulnerable Canberrans and that have confidence in the future of this city. Something that has come through very strongly is the way this budget says we have confidence in the future of Canberra and that the ACT government is getting right behind the city. I commend my amendments to the Assembly.
MR CORBELL (Molonglo—Attorney-General, Minister for Police and Emergency Services, Minister for Workplace Safety and Industrial Relations and Minister for the Environment and Sustainable Development) (10.58): I am pleased to join with my colleagues this morning in speaking to the motion proposed by Dr Bourke, which highlights the importance of this 2014-15 budget in providing for significant investment in the Canberra community, creating jobs and supporting our community and the services people need through a difficult economic period.
In particular, I am very pleased to see the focus on infrastructure investment in this budget. Infrastructure investment is needed to drive the delivery of the types of
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