Page 4057 - Week 11 - Tuesday, 23 October 2018

Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video


in that budget—

for preliminary planning and detailed design of the light rail stop at Mitchell.

Construction of the Mitchell stop will occur during 2019-20.

In light of the minister’s commitment and the budget allocation, the committee will not be inquiring further into the matters raised in the petition.

Delivering an inclusive, progressive and connected Canberra

Ministerial statement

MR BARR (Kurrajong—Chief Minister, Treasurer, Minister for Social Inclusion and Equality, Minister for Tourism and Special Events and Minister for Trade, Industry and Investment) (10.51): It has now been two years since Canberrans voted for progress at the 2016 territory election, and they chose a positive vision for Canberra. And every day for the past two years we have been working to deliver on our election commitments. We have been working to deliver a more inclusive, a more progressive and a more connected Canberra.

We believe that, as our city and our economy grow, all Canberrans must share in the benefits. And that is why we are expanding our services and support for Canberrans who need it most. With Australia’s lowest unemployment rate and the nation’s fastest growing economy, we are in a strong position to deliver on our commitments and expand our services.

We are delivering new local schools, particularly in growth areas of our city, and creating more places for students at our existing schools. We are helping to ensure that every Canberra student gets the same learning opportunities, no matter what their parents do, rolling out laptops to every ACT high school student from this year.

We have successfully expanded our network of nurse-led walk-in centres by opening the new centre in Gungahlin and getting work underway in Weston Creek; we have made a record new investment in mental health services, including more supported accommodation and more support services for communities at risk; we have stepped up our investment in elective surgery and our emergency department; we have opened a third public hospital at the University of Canberra—all this to ensure that Canberrans can access the healthcare they need, close to home and whenever they need it.

By investing more in more services for families and those facing barriers to inclusion, we are working to see all Canberrans share in our prosperity. We have implemented the family safety hub—a nation-leading network of government, specialist and community organisations to help provide more support for people experiencing family violence.

In the last two years we have also become the first jurisdiction in Australia to reach full rollout of the national disability insurance scheme and we are funding more


Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video