Page 2893 - Week 08 - Wednesday, 14 August 2019
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MADAM SPEAKER: Members, please! Humour aside, the minister has the floor.
MR RAMSAY: In addition to our election commitment of $15 million to build stage 2 of the Belconnen Arts Centre, we have injected $700,000 over two years into the BAC for operational support for the extended centre.
Opposition members interjecting—
MR RAMSAY: We have funded the creation of new—
MADAM SPEAKER: Resume your seat, minister. Stop the clock. Members, for the benefit of our delegation, allow the minister to be heard.
MR RAMSAY: We are pleased to have created a new position in artsACT for an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander-identified arts officer.
We have also funded a range of capacity building opportunities for artists and arts organisations, at $100,000, and we have funded MusicACT to the tune of $108,000 for capacity building programs specifically for the live music sector, in line with the government’s election commitment to strengthen live music.
We are also providing $270,000 for the delivery of pop-up community arts events and activities in Gungahlin and Woden, and over $330,000 for a one-off funding round for community arts outreach activities. This is in addition to the more than $1 million that we provide for community outreach programs to the ANU, the Canberra Symphony Orchestra, BAC and the Tuggeranong Arts Centre.
This government is strongly committed to supporting the arts sector through funding arts organisations, artists and community arts and events so that Canberrans can enjoy the very best in arts and culture. (Time expired.)
Transport Canberra—weekend bus services
MR PARTON: My question is to the minister for transport. I refer to the Canberra Times article titled “Bus cancellations could continue for a year, union warns”. In the article the secretary for the ACT TWU suggested that the problem of weekend bus cancellations lies in the lack of drivers available on weekends. You have mentioned that 34 trainee bus drivers will be ready in three months. Minister, when did the government become aware that the new weekend bus services would not be properly serviced?
MR STEEL: I thank the member for his question. In fact, we have 10 bus drivers graduating from their training course this Friday. We are going through an ongoing recruitment process to make sure that we can deliver reliable services on the weekend. The government has been upfront in acknowledging that the reliability on the weekend has not been as high as we would like, and that is why we are focusing on the solution: recruiting more bus drivers so they can make themselves available on the weekends and deliver the 70 per cent more services we have provided under network 19.
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