Page 2113 - Week 06 - Tuesday, 21 June 2011
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The government will finalise and release a new planning strategy in March 2012 and is commencing on a new round of area-specific master plans in 2011. Together, this work will further optimise use of the territory’s existing infrastructure, create more dynamic urban places while preserving important open space connections at the macro and micro level, provide greater diversity of housing appropriate for all ages, reduce sprawling new growth and balance this with a more compact city, improve public transport, and emphasise and support sustainable, well-designed infill development. Public realm upgrades in our city centre managed by the coordinator of city area improvements will also be an important part of this work.
The government’s rolling infrastructure plan will be released this month and will provide information to the community about infrastructure priorities for the 2011 to 2021 period. One important infrastructure project that will relieve congestion on our city roads and provide better freight connectivity is, of course, the Majura parkway, which will progress to shovel-ready stage as we aggressively pursue federal funding support.
Sustaining a growing working population requires that we also work to provide support for more childcare places. I am confident that we will see a sharp rise in the number of childcare places available in the ACT in this period.
We are committed to tackling the challenges of climate change and continuing to lead the nation in reducing our carbon footprint by increasing the uptake of renewable energy and increasing energy efficiency in Canberra homes and businesses. We will focus in this coming 12 months on doing our bit to tackle climate change, including the release of a new action plan for climate change by the end of 2011 and measures to speed the rollout of large-scale solar generation capacity in the ACT. We will also restore sports grounds at Isabella Plains and Charnwood, ensuring they are equipped for greater resilience in the face of our changing climate.
We will maintain our focus on ensuring Canberra remains one of the world’s cleanest and most environmentally responsible cities by releasing new, direction-setting waste and energy policies in 2011.
As I indicated earlier, health care is and will always be a major priority for this government. Our focus is on investment to ensure our health services are adequate to provide for an integrated and contemporary health care system for the future. There is, as we are all aware, a growing demand for all health services in the ACT year on year. Significant demand is being experienced for access to elective surgery from both our local community and from residents of surrounding New South Wales. The government is committed to continuing to improve access to elective surgery, and to effectively address this growing demand, the government has developed the elective surgery access plan.
The plan provides for an expansion of elective surgery capacity, improved management of elective surgery, and a redesign of systems to ensure they are more responsive to community needs, providing maximum access to service. This government already has a significant record of achievement in improving access to elective surgery. The target for both public hospitals in 2010-11 totals 10,712
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