Page 2127 - Week 06 - Thursday, 7 May 2009
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people with relevant non-government agencies and carers. The government’s commitment to a carers-grandparents support service will be met from within this funding. This will include a new position to provide support and advocacy to foster carers and kinship carers. This position will support the valuable role carers provide in caring for the most vulnerable children and young people.
A new program will also be developed and provided to support the most complex children and young people in our out-of-home care system. A new therapeutic foster care support model will commence by providing clinical expertise to specific foster carers in the area of trauma counselling and support for children in care. This nationally recognised program will improve the stability in care for the most complex children, leading to a reduction in the dependency on high-cost residential models.
Another key initiative in this portfolio is the establishment of the West Belconnen Child and Family Centre. This will be the third child and family centre for the ACT and will deliver a range of universal and targeted programs that promote child development, positive parenting and family functioning. This initiative is being delivered in partnership with the commonwealth government under the Indigenous early childhood development national partnership agreement. Also, the government’s commitment to provide a budget for the Youth Advisory Council has been met in this year’s budget. So $20,000 will be made available each year for the Youth Advisory Council.
I now turn to the planning portfolio. There are a range of initiatives in support of the building and construction industry, particularly new inspectors in the plumbing and electrical inspectorate. There are some additional resources for the Planning and Land Authority to complete some urgent work, particularly around the COAG agenda for national consistency in a range of policy areas, and further work for ACTPLA to reform internal structures. Another key element is a significant injection, $74 million, in major road infrastructure to support land release in Gungahlin and the Molonglo Valley. There are a number of projects that will be funded to see infrastructure in place for these new suburbs.
Turning to the tourism, sport and recreation portfolio, the 2009-10 budget delivers a range of sensible and targeted investments in the ACT sports and tourism sectors that are aimed at supporting local jobs and the economy whilst delivering a range of services and facilities that will ensure Canberra remains Australia’s most active and healthy community.
I am particularly pleased to be able to fund the second stage of the Lyneham sports precinct. The first stage was funded in last year’s budget. This stage deals with the western side of the precinct, and provides support for Tennis ACT to upgrade the National Sports Centre. That will mean a racket sports precinct, meeting the needs of tennis, squash, table tennis and other associated sports such as fencing, which have been looking for some permanent facilities. As part of the arrangements the government has in place with Tennis ACT and that have been negotiated, we want to ensure that there are facilities for a range of sports as part of the national indoor sports centre.
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