Page 4720 - Week 13 - Tuesday, 10 November 2009
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refurbishment of Noah’s ark children’s resource centre at the former Rivett primary school and completed refurbishment of Hall cottage and Tharwa hall. We have also invested $1.5 million to build a new senior citizens centre in Tuggeranong. I was at a recent Tuggeranong Community Council meeting where the architects and designers presented that to the group, and there was strong, positive feedback from the Tuggeranong community. Some $400,000 worth of energy efficiency upgrades for not-for-profit childcare centres and community centres were completed on time and on budget by June 2009. I note that tenders for the construction of the child and family centre at west Belconnen will close this week.
As a strong advocate for women’s issues and equal opportunity, I commend my predecessor, Ms Gallagher, for her passion and drive in this area. Achievements include targeted training of staff from ACT Health and DHCS on conducting a gender assessment pilot, which will give us an opportunity to evaluate some of the implications involved in rolling the commitment out across government. Also, the ACT government held the 2009 ACT women’s summit in July, which provided an avenue for feedback that will be used in the development of the new ACT women’s plan, due to be released early next year. I also note that a request for tender to deliver the new initiative of ACT micro-credit programs targeted for women opened in September and closed last week. Over the August-October period, the Assembly passed the Adoption Amendment Bill 2009. We have also provided additional accommodation and support for women and children escaping domestic violence over the Christmas period.
When it comes to childcare, the ACT government is not just focused on increasing the number of places available, and I thank my predecessor, Mr Barr, for his drive and focus on improving care, educational quality and rectifying skills shortages in this area. An extra 666 new childcare places have come online at 11 childcare centres in the ACT during 2009. Through the Canberra Institute of Technology we have been able to offer fee-free courses for the diploma and advanced diploma of children’s services, and more than 400 students have enrolled in these courses. That is a 172 per cent increase on last year. We have also consulted widely with young Canberrans on our draft plan for young people and will soon commence a similar process in relation to our children’s plan.
I would also like to acknowledge my predecessor in disability, housing, ageing and multicultural affairs, Mr Hargreaves, and his passion for social justice and empowerment of the most vulnerable in our community.
In the area of housing, the ACT government has also worked with the Rudd government on national housing and homelessness reforms. We have implemented key commonwealth initiatives to improve housing affordability, increase the supply of affordable housing and respond to homelessness. We are delivering on our obligations under the federal stimulus package. Some 351 properties will be delivered under the social housing construction program, 15 more than the commonwealth requirement. In addition, hundreds of jobs in the ACT building and construction industry have meant that our builders, plumbers, carpenters, electricians, brickies and carpet layers have all benefited from these initiatives.
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