Page 2220 - Week 06 - Thursday, 6 June 2019
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cybersecurity, space, renewable energy and agri-technology. There is an investment of $5 million in the CBR Innovation Network, which assists small to medium businesses with grants, partnership arrangements and access to venture capital. Since its launch five years ago, the Innovation Network has assisted more than 1,000 entrepreneurs and businesses.
We are releasing land for 15,600 new dwellings over the next four years as well as more land for commercial, industrial and mixed-use projects across the city. Delivering a strong pipeline of land will help to maintain activity in the construction sector and ensure we can meet the demand for land created by new and expanding businesses.
MR PETTERSSON: Chief Minister, what does a re-elected coalition government mean for our economy and local jobs? How is the ACT government responding through the budget?
MR BARR: I hope that we can move the debate about our city beyond it being a bubble. It would be useful if Capital Hill could be separated from the rest of Canberra. There is a concern, given the election eve announcement of a further $1.5 billion worth of job cuts coming to the Australian public service and a decentralisation agenda that is principally driven by the National Party. That clearly remains a concern not just for this side of the chamber but also potentially for those opposite.
I do not think there is any prospect of the Nationals giving up their agenda of wanting to shift jobs out of Canberra into their own electorates. We recognise that reality. We will continue to campaign against decentralisation and APS job cuts. At the same time we will step up our own efforts to invest in Canberra because the federal government will not. They have made that pretty clear through the election campaign. We will invest in our schools, hospitals and transport infrastructure. We will continue our focus on building infrastructure to meet our city’s future needs. Where we can partner with the commonwealth government, like on the Monaro Highway, we will. But that is it; that was their project. We do not even get anywhere near our per capita share of commonwealth infrastructure. That is a decision that the coalition took prior to the federal election. If they stand by that, we will not get our per capita share. We will need to do more, and we will.
MS CODY: Chief Minister, what steps is the ACT government taking to improve job security for workers through the 2019-20 budget and set an example for the ACT labour market as a whole?
MR BARR: We have taken some very deliberate decisions through this budget round, leading by example to ensure more secure jobs within our own ACT government service. This year’s budget also invests in a task force focusing on improving job security by reviewing the use of casual and temporary employment across ACT government directorates. This will identify work currently being undertaken by temporary staff which can be transitioned to secure and permanent roles over time.
We will also transition externally contracted school cleaning services to a territory-run service by establishing a cleaning workforce within the Education Directorate. This
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