Page 2916 - Week 09 - Thursday, 18 August 2005
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In the minute I have left, I want to finish by mentioning that recently I announced a future Canberra forum, which is going to be a consultative body to drive some policies around some of these important issues. I am gathering industry leaders, community leaders, young people from the ACT and experts in their fields, consulting with them, getting some of their ideas and finding out some of the reasons why people leave Canberra and why they choose not to come back. What are some of the strategies that governments can put in place to make Canberra a more attractive place for young people, for young families, for people to come and raise families? I have put forward a couple of ideas, but no doubt there will be many others. I look forward to that forum providing an impetus for good alternative policies that we can put to the people of Canberra to provide ideas and strategies to avoid the significant concerns that an ageing population in Canberra will face in the future.
MR CORBELL (Molonglo—Minister for Health and Minister for Planning) (3.57): The government’s vision for Canberra in the next 10 years and into the future is of a world city that becomes an even better, more vibrant national capital than it is today. Under the Stanhope government’s policies, that vision is starting to be realised. Today in the papers, on the radio and in people’s homes, Canberrans are talking about the future of this great city. We all have aspirations for ourselves, our identity and our national capital.
The government sees a Canberra with many facets. The government sees a Canberra that has a revitalised CBD, a dynamic and creative city heart—one of the key objectives of the spatial plan of the economic white paper—a Canberra that has the best vocational education and training system in the country, a Canberra that has an even stronger private sector, a Canberra whose universities play a major role in the growth of the city.
We see a Canberra that is sustainable; we see a Canberra that retains its essential commitment to social justice and equity of opportunity. For example, we see the ANU linked to the city with smart enterprises commercialising research and development; we see things like the national information communications technology Australia centre of excellence planned for City West and facilitated by support from the government. We see things such as those approaches planned for this knowledge axis with activity in biotechnology and nanotechnology.
The government is working towards the establishment of a dedicated secondary school/college environment for the best and brightest of our years 11 and 12 students to work with internationally recognised academics from the ANU. All of this is part of our seeing Canberra as a centre that retains and attracts young people in the 22 to 30-year-old age cohort. They are important for our future. For the same reason, the government is doing the work and making investments in the creation of new urban centres of activity in Canberra such as the revitalisation of City West. For example, Childers Street will be an urban street with arts, entertainment, residential, research and commercial activities all standing cheek by jowl and creating a vibrant precinct in the heart of our city.
The government will keep working to spread the good word about Canberra to make sure everyone knows what we already do and that Canberra is a great place to live, work and run a business. From a family perspective this means that our children are, and will continue to be, educated in the best schools in Australia. The government’s investment of
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