Page 2893 - Week 10 - Thursday, 7 October 2021
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transplant, and that is very costly. We want to make sure that we can put in place the insurances that the industry may need, as well as the safety aspects for employees.
Budget—transport and active travel
MS ORR: My question is to the Minister for Transport and City Services. Minister, how does the ACT budget’s investments in roads and active travel meet the government’s election commitments?
MR STEEL: I thank Ms Orr for her question. The 2021-22 budget includes more than half a billion dollars of investment in roads along some of the ACT’s key strategic transport corridors—from John Gorton Drive bridge connecting Molonglo to Belconnen, to the Monaro Highway connecting Tuggeranong to the city. This year’s budget also invests $45.7 million in active travel initiatives over the forward estimates. This grows our total pipeline of active travel projects to more than $77 million.
This is a wellbeing budget, and we are investing in one of the key reasons why our city is so liveable—our fantastic cycling network. We are looking forward to starting that work and creating jobs. It includes funding to get on with delivering a number of our election commitments, including commencing construction of the Sulwood Drive shared path connection, starting feasibility work on the garden city cycle route linking Watson through to the city and the inner north. We have also funded the expansion of the successful age-friendly suburbs program to Reid, Scullin, Chifley and O’Connor, delivering path upgrades and accessibility improvements, particularly to support our older residents in Canberra but which will benefit everyone.
Path maintenance is also a key priority for the government, and in this year’s budget we have committed an additional $4 million in funding for shared-path and community-path maintenance over the next four years. This builds on the work that has been done this year to audit the state of every footpath in Canberra, which has been undertaken by our fantastic Jobs for Canberrans workforce.
MS ORR: Minister, what investments will take place in my electorate of Yerrabi?
MR STEEL: I thank Ms Orr for her supplementary question. I am pleased to take this opportunity to provide an update on what the budget holds for roads and active travel in Gungahlin. Works will soon begin on improved intersections and shared paths in Kenny to support access to the new Kenny high school. This work includes installation of a roundabout on Albatross Crescent, signalisation at two intersections on Wells Station Drive, and the installation of bus bays to support the new high school, helping students to safely choose public transport and active travel when getting to and from school. We are also investing in Gungahlin by providing funding in the budget to deliver on the government’s commitment to develop hybrid traffic models for the Gungahlin town centre. These models will support future strategic transport investments in the area, and they will help us to plan for better active travel connections as well as the future road network.
I would like to put on the record my thanks to Ms Orr for the work that she has been doing consulting in her electorate of Yerrabi and surveying local residents on the
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