Page 17 - Week 01 - Tuesday, 12 February 2019
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adding around 1,000 places to existing schools across the city, and work is well underway this year to deliver another full new school in the Molonglo Valley.
The Deputy Chief Minister is continuing to develop the model and framework for our commitment towards providing free early childhood education to every three-year-old in the ACT, up to 15 hours per week, in addition to the existing arrangement for children in the year before full-time school.
Stage 1 of Canberra’s light rail network is nearing completion and a significantly expanded new bus network will commence in late April, with the 2018-19 budget review delivering new initiatives to support the commencement of Canberra’s integrated transport system.
Minister Fitzharris is now progressing planning for stage 2 of Canberra’s light rail network, with the current work focused on securing commonwealth environmental and planning approvals as quickly as possible. Bring on the federal election, Madam Speaker. The light rail route from Civic to Woden is an important link in the city’s future transport network as well as a significant new project in our city’s forward infrastructure plan, and the government is determined to get on with building it.
Getting on with delivering these important health, education and transport infrastructure projects is a top priority for government in 2019 because we understand that they are essential for protecting and improving Canberra’s livability in the 2020s and beyond.
Minister Stephen-Smith and I will soon sign a new 10-year ACT Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander agreement, along with the chair of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elected Body and the Head of Service. The new agreement will continue to set out the ongoing commitment of the ACT government, the elected body and the community to recognise and respond to the needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people living in the ACT. I take this opportunity to thank the elected body for the significant consultation and work that has gone into developing this new agreement.
Madam Speaker, we recognise that owning a home or finding secure, affordable and suitable housing is a challenge for many Australians and many Canberrans. We will continue to focus on improving housing affordability and housing supply in 2019 because we know that this is central to our city’s inclusiveness.
Last year Minister Gentleman launched the ACT planning strategy refresh, which steps through the important choices that we face about our city’s growth. This year we will build on that work by undertaking a review of the Territory Plan to ensure that we are delivering more efficient outcomes and a focused planning system that results in better design outcomes and protects what people love most about our city.
We are also committed to raising the quality of buildings in Canberra so that residents can have confidence in the homes and apartments that they buy. To do this we will ensure that those who hold a licence have the appropriate knowledge. It will increase the level of design documentation that needs to be provided so that builders can have
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