Page 3539 - Week 09 - Thursday, 23 August 2018
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Community consultation for the 2019 ACT budget will commence next week. I am pleased that we have passed this year’s budget. Each year the government allocates $6 billion towards services and infrastructure for our community. We are very focused now on turning our attention to next year’s budget.
The 2019 budget consultation website will go live this coming Monday, 27 August, and we will be accepting submissions through to the middle of October. We passed the budget this week, and we will start work on next year’s budget four days later. This extended period of community engagement will mean that there is additional time for feedback and suggestions from stakeholders and the broader community to help guide proposals that will be brought forward for the 2019-20 budget. We will look to continue to invest in services and infrastructure for our growing community.
In previous years, we have received hundreds of submissions from across stakeholders, business organisations and community groups as well as individual Canberrans who bring forward good ideas. The government considers all of this input closely in the budget process, and input from stakeholders, community organisations and individual citizens ensures that we can put together a very strong budget each year that reflects the needs and aspirations of the Canberra community.
MS CHEYNE: What steps is the ACT government taking to involve more Canberrans in the budget process?
MR BARR: Canberrans who are keen to provide their input on the 2019-20 budget can make a submission online from next week by visiting the government’s your say website community engagement platform. All input and submissions that their submitters wish to be made public are then uploaded to a budget consultation website on the treasury page for people to consider.
In making submissions, we are asking Canberrans to think about four big questions: what services are most important for the territory; how can the government deliver current services more efficiently or in ways that better meet the needs of our community; are there services that the government should stop delivering or deliver in a different way; and what new ideas, services or programs should the government consider to meet the emerging or evolving needs of the community?
Of course, individual groups and organisations will always place their own direct requests for funding through this process as well. The government gives close consideration to these submissions. But when joining the consultation process, we certainly encourage everyone to think about the bigger picture of how we can best meet our growing city’s needs and deliver the services and infrastructure that will see our city continue to get even better.
MR PETTERSSON: Chief Minister, what are some examples of the community’s input influencing outcomes in past ACT budgets?
MR BARR: We certainly want to see as many Canberrans as possible from as many different backgrounds and walks of life having their say on how our city works.
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