Page 4363 - Week 12 - Thursday, 24 October 2019
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MR BARR: With our very good jobs and strong employment growth, our clean environment and our welcoming and cohesive community, it is no surprise that people want to live in Canberra, to come here to work and to raise their families. Within a decade, our city will reach a population of half a million. To remain Australia’s most livable city, our growing population needs to be able to continue to access ongoing quality health care, which we have been discussing today, world-class education, reliable roads and public transport, active transport options, and community arts and sporting infrastructure, all of which are set out in the government’s long-term infrastructure plan.
Our pipeline is not just focused on city-defining projects like the expansion of the Canberra Hospital campus, the CIT campus redevelopment program and the rollout of the light rail network. It also includes regional, local and suburban projects, new sporting facilities, new nurse-led walk-in centres, better cultural and community facilities, upgrades to public infrastructure, better roads, and renewed arts and cultural facilities. Right across every area of local and territory government responsibility, the infrastructure plan shows how we will shape and manage Canberra’s growth for years to come. I thank members for their interest in the infrastructure plan.
I ask that all further questions be placed on the notice paper.
Supplementary answers to questions without notice
Canberra Hospital—SPIRE project
Bimberi Youth Justice Centre—lockdowns
MS STEPHEN-SMITH: Today in question time I was asked about the consultation in relation to residential accommodation services currently located in building 5. I indicated that I understood that the survey was still open; that is not the case. The online survey has in fact closed. The survey had around 1,200 responses and will provide quantitative and qualitative data on needs and suggestions. If members are aware of people who did not have an opportunity to complete the survey they can email ihss@act.gov.au with their feedback or they can always get in touch with me or my office and we will pass that on.
I also take the opportunity to respond to some of the matters that were raised in question time yesterday in relation to Bimberi Youth Justice Centre. I am afraid this is a relatively long statement, but it is important to put these matters on the record, given today’s media coverage.
I am committed to transparency and I understand the community interest in Bimberi Youth Justice Centre. On 17 September 2019 I tabled the executive summary of Peter Muir’s interim report into the incident that occurred on 26 August 2019. As Mr Muir put it in his interim report, the 26 August incident was at the more serious end of what you would expect to see in a youth justice centre.
As I stated in the Assembly, based on the evidence examined by Mr Muir to date, he does not find that there were any precursors which the centre management or staff should have responded to above the systems and actions that were already in place.
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