Page 601 - Week 02 - Thursday, 16 February 2017

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Government—inter-city relations

MS CHEYNE: My question is to the Minister for Economic Development, the Chief Minister. Chief Minister, can you please update the Assembly on Canberra’s partnerships with Adelaide.

MR BARR: I thank Ms Cheyne for the question. I am pleased to advise the Assembly that the Lord Mayor of Adelaide, Martin Haese, and I have recently signed a smart city cooperation agreement. It is the first such agreement between two leading Australian smart cities, and it formalises arrangements for us to work together on a range of nation-leading reforms and smart city innovation.

I can also advise the Assembly that the Premier of South Australia and I are jointly pursuing increased aviation opportunities between Canberra and Adelaide. I met with the Chief Executive of the South Australian Tourism Commission as well as the Premier and the Treasurer of South Australia to discuss our collaboration to see more direct flights between Canberra and Adelaide, particularly to encourage other low cost carriers to enter that market.

The South Australian Treasurer, Tom Koutsantonis, and I have discussed opportunities for the states and territories to continue to lead on taxation reform, economic development and energy market reform. I note that the South Australian administration is the only other state or territory government in this country to do anything to reform inefficient taxes, in addition to the work that we are undertaking here in the territory.

MS CHEYNE: Chief Minister, how will the smart cities agreement improve service delivery for Canberrans?

MR BARR: The agreement raises the smart city profile of both Canberra and Adelaide, nationally and internationally. We are forming a range of partnerships at the national and international levels to stimulate economic activity in the two cities and to improve the efficiency of service delivery. We are already prominent smart cities with major projects that use technology to make our respective cities more livable and efficient. We have the largest free public wi-fi networks in Australia, providing access to high-speed, high-quality data for our citizens across both cities.

This agreement will see us collaborate around procurement for a range of projects to increase efficiency and buying power. It will also allow us to share knowledge to accelerate the uptake of new technologies, to reduce the risk of having to go it alone, and to create joint promotional opportunities to attract new investment to our cities. We are working together on the development of some national smart city initiatives and applications. This includes smart parking, smart bins and sensors to make our waste collection more efficient and cost effective, sensors and satellite data to help us understand fire behaviour and predict fire paths, and smart data to help us improve traffic flows and congestion.


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