Page 3176 - Week 09 - Tuesday, 20 August 2019
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
MR STEEL (Murrumbidgee—Minister for Community Services and Facilities, Minister for Multicultural Affairs and Minister for Transport and City Services) (3.19): The ACT government continues to plan for more community facilities through the budget.
We are releasing in the land release program 294,000 square metres of community use land, including 146,000 square metres for community facilities, and we are doing the necessary planning for new facilities as well. In the 2019-20 budget we have made an initial investment of $1.75 million to prepare feasibility and design documentation for a new community centre in the Woden Town Centre.
The Woden Community Centre will meet the growing needs of both not for profit and government service providers and provide a new home for Woden Community Service. It will serve as a central location for the surrounding region to access a range of integrated services and spaces for events, meetings, learning, and the arts.
The full scope of the design and service offerings will be informed by engagement with Woden Community Service and the broader Woden community. I look forward to seeing how these conversations take shape over the next 12 months. Needs analysis, concept design and detailed design begin this year and key stakeholders will be involved in the detailed design process.
The project will be ready for construction in 2021. As both the Minister for Community Services and Facilities and a local member for Murrumbidgee, it is exciting for me to see the next stage of this project take shape. I am looking forward to the procurement for the feasibility and design occurring soon.
Building a dedicated Woden community centre is just one example of the ongoing work that our government is doing to ensure that Canberrans from all walks of life can access spaces to come together, learn, connect, and give back to the community.
MS CHEYNE (Ginninderra) (3.21): Madam Deputy Speaker, as you know, the natural beauty of Canberra is astonishing, and, as the bush capital, we are the envy of Australia for our striking environment, an environment that has been maintained and improved while accommodating a growing urban landscape. With this budget the government continues a legacy of sustainable urban growth and the protection of our natural landscape, ensuring that Canberra continues to be a shining example of a capital city.
This budget paves the way for our territory’s development and sustainability for decades to come. Our goals include reducing natural gas usage, mitigating the urban heat island effect, striving towards increasingly sustainable public transportation, protecting our waterways and strategically planning for an increasing population.
The government’s climate change strategy and our living infrastructure plan are integral to the protection of our natural environment and to the sustainable growth of our city. This budget commits $12 million over the next four years to these initiatives so that we can get on with the crucial task of making our city more resilient to the detrimental impacts of climate change and to meet our emission reduction targets.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video