Page 170 - Week 01 - Wednesday, 14 December 2016
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But the time is also right, as we have acknowledged, to refocus and redouble our efforts on new suburban development to ensure that there is a ready supply of new and affordable home sites in suburban communities to meet the demands of a growing population. Members may have seen me on television about 1,000 times during the five weeks of the election campaign pointing out that our city’s population is growing by more than 5,000 people a year. We will need to continue to release new suburban estates and to continue our focus on urban infill. The work that is conducted by the LDA remains relevant and important. It certainly will support the functioning of these new entities during the transition period.
It is absolutely critical to public confidence and trust in the work of ACT public sector agencies that their operations are conducted properly and that they are open to scrutiny. Good public sector governance is about getting the right things done the right way and delivering this standard of performance on a sustainable basis.
It would be fair to say that discussion about public sector governance often focuses on structure charts, organisational frameworks and policy documents. These are undoubtedly important elements but to focus on them, in a way, is to focus on the bricks and mortar that make up a building rather than analysing, understanding and utilising the building itself.
Governance frameworks are in and of themselves a foundation on which good public services are based. Sound governance frameworks start, though, with an absolute clarity of vision, purpose, powers and functions and then call up uncontested requirements for promoting accountability, sensible engagement with risk, transparency in decision-making, genuine stakeholder engagement, integrity and probity, stewardship of the public interest, efficiency, and a focus on specifying and, of course, monitoring performance outcomes.
The government is moving to deliver these critical city and future building tasks through the establishment of the new portfolios—urban renewal and suburban development—in the ministry that I announced following the conclusion of the caretaker period and the formation of the new government.
The vision that we outlined in our statement of ambition earlier this year is the vision that we will prosecute and deliver over the next four years. We are now well upon our path to delivering those outcomes but must continue to provide the right focus, resources and expertise to lead, facilitate and manage this transformation of our city’s CBD—the gateway corridor to our city—as well as ensuring that we continue to offer genuine affordable housing choices across the city.
The changes that we have already outlined and the further detail that will come tomorrow and in 2017 with a view to these new structures being in place for the commencement of the fiscal year 2017-18 will obviously progress over the coming months. I will have more to say on this tomorrow and in the new year. I commend my amendment to the motion to the Assembly.
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