Page 3053 - Week 09 - Thursday, 13 October 2022
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There is progress on the design response to the need for shelter, particularly around the edges of the building, as well as providing improved connectivity and safety around the campus and the interchange. Community and commercial facilities will complement activated common areas across the Woden town centre and the new campus. A youth foyer with up to 20 units will be delivered to support young people who are at risk of or experiencing homelessness. The foyer will provide accommodation, support services and connection for those residents who are pursuing education and training, co-located with the campus.
MS ORR: Minister, how is the public transport system being supported while this project is underway?
MR STEEL: Thank you. As I have been talking about this week, a new bus timetable will commence as work begins on the CIT Woden campus project, on raising London Circuit, as well as improvements based on community feedback. The new timetable will be released ahead of term 1. When it commences, next year, it will use our full bus fleet and our full number of available staff, including those who we are recruiting, as we move away from the current interim timetable. Bus timetable and network updates coincide with the opening of the temporary interchange, which has been planned to ensure that there is as little disruption as possible to public transport users.
Infrastructure at the temporary interchange includes temporary bus shelters and platforms, safe access and pedestrian pathways for those who are moving to and from the temporary interchange, secure CCTV monitoring equipment and public announcement speakers, parking for Transport Canberra operations vehicles, and storage space for the operations and emergency traffic management equipment. These measures will support the bus network to continue to deliver reliable services for Canberrans during this period of heightened construction as we build these significant transport facilities for the future of our city and the future of Woden.
Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders—legal services
MRS KIKKERT: Madam Speaker, my question is to the Attorney-General. Between 2015 and 2019, the ACT government funded the Aboriginal Legal Service to coordinate an Interview Friends program for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people brought into police custody. Before this, the program was run by the Aboriginal Justice Centre and JACS.
The 2022-23 budget includes funding to “re-establish the Interview Friends program”. This initiative was proposed by the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community to help address overrepresentation in the justice system. Attorney, what gap or deficiency in the justice system will the new Interview Friends program fill or improve?
MR RATTENBURY: I thank Mrs Kikkert for the question, because I think this is a very important program. The advice that we have received—and the reason that I took this proposal to the budget process—was that we should address the views put forward that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who find themselves in touch with the justice system can find it difficult to make their case. They can find it a bit difficult to represent themselves well in the system. The purpose of having an
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