Page 3576 - Week 09 - Thursday, 23 August 2018
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Brindabella because Tuggeranong and Lanyon are made up of hardworking families. As their representative in this place, I know there is a role for government in assisting them and providing services for them.
Our government is prioritising education as a key pillar of aspiration through the establishment of the Future Skills Academy at the Caroline Chisholm School in the heart of the Brindabella electorate. It will specialise in science, technology, engineering and maths, as well as communication and enterprise skills, thus laying the groundwork for future jobs. The government is also ensuring better staffing across our schools, with 66 new educational professionals and 15 additional school psychologists. They will provide a great base for our students and their growth across our schools.
As a former nurse, health care is always extremely important to me. Tuggeranong will benefit through our walk-in nurse clinics but also through GP centres that will further benefit from funding for the hospital-in-the-home program and increased elective surgeries.
This year’s budget is also prioritising our suburbs and our town centre. It is cleaning up our lake’s waterway quality and opening it up through improved funding for Lake Tuggeranong Rowing Club. Madam Assistant Speaker, I am not sure whether you, as a member who also lives down south, have ever enjoyed an early morning row on Lake Tuggeranong. It is a very picturesque and beautiful place to be early in the morning.
Most importantly, we are updating the town centre. The gazebo is gone. I have long been its champion, but the gazebo has been well loved, well used, and it was well past its use-by date. The gazebo in the town centre is now removed. If you are standing on Anketell Street, you can see the vista right down to the lake. It is truly quite special. I am looking forward to the improvements around the town centre.
I have asked for these improvements and I will not stop asking for improvements until they are made right across our area. These include the bike paths and the walkways down from the town centre to the lake, the Anketell Street upgrades, and anything else that I can bring into the Tuggeranong town centre to improve it.
Our government is also prioritising and protecting our environment. We are helping families to lower their emissions and their cost of living through a $6 million of investment in Actsmart to provide independent energy saving advice.
There is always work to do. Always our government is giving our community a fair go. For example, it is enabling first homebuyers to enter into the market by removing stamp duty for first homebuyers with a combined income of under $160,000. The plumbers, the nurses, the personal carers in our community now will have an opportunity to move into the housing market through that great initiative.
Importantly, too, our government is prioritising a fair go for all from across our diverse backgrounds. For example, this includes funding to make Canberra more LGBTI friendly, improved accommodation for Gugan Gulwan and improved funding for the Reconciliation Day holiday.
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