Page 3438 - Week 09 - Wednesday, 22 August 2018
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WorkSafe is looking forward to recruiting two extra inspectors. It is anticipated that one of these will have specialist mental health qualifications to bolster WorkSafe’s ability to respond to mental health injuries and risks. The other inspector will help WorkSafe’s on-the-ground presence to ensure that Canberra workplaces are, and remain, safe.
Through this budget, Access Canberra will also boost its ability to improve building quality in the ACT. We have listened to the community, who have said that they would like quicker resolution of building complaints. So these two inspectors will help support Access Canberra’s new rapid regulatory response team who aim to assess and finalise building complaints as quickly as possible. This team will help to free up our other building inspectors to deal with the more complex issues, as well as clearing the cases on hand.
The government is investing in Access Canberra to ensure that it has the staff, the skills and the tools needed to effectively regulate the areas needed in Canberra. It is why we are making changes to the building licence regime to test builders’ knowledge. It is why we are hiring new inspectors. And it is why we will soon start a new program of auditing building certifiers. We are continuing to grow the capacity and the capability of Access Canberra so that it can meet the needs of this growing city.
Clubs—community contributions
MISS C BURCH: Madam Speaker, my question is to the Minister for Regulatory Services. Minister, the clubs community contribution model is one way that our community clubs support a wide range of sporting, cultural and other community activities. Many community organisations have said that they rely on clubs’ in-kind donations of room hire waivers to host their meetings. Minister, what alternative venues for community groups will your government provide if clubs are no longer a viable option?
MR RAMSAY: Madam Speaker, I reject entirely the premise of the question.
MISS C BURCH: Minister, will you guarantee that clubs will continue to have in-kind donations of rooms and facilities fully counted as community contributions under the scheme?
MR RAMSAY: As is clear in the discussion paper that has been released, we are looking at a number of areas which have been raised by the report that we have received from the Auditor-General. We take seriously the Auditor-General’s report. I do not know if the Canberra Liberals do but we certainly do. We take seriously the reports that have been provided by others as well.
We will continue to look at that evidence that has looked at the boundaries in relation to in-kind donations and the boundaries in relation to the definition of community contributions. We will work with that. As Mr Parton and Mr Milligan said in the chamber last week, there are areas where this scheme should be tightened. There are areas where this scheme should be improved.
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