What else is the ACT Government’s plan for increased revenue collection and savings going to buy us? Well, in no particular order, this is what we’ll get:
First up is 60 new police officers. Simon Corbell said (with some figures I couldn’t quite follow) that this means the ACT will have 107 new police officers between 2004 and 2009, which may or may not be the amount recommended by some report a few years ago. This should make Steve Pratt happy anyway.
We are also getting 16 new firefighters and two new training colleges for them and their colleagues in the SES and volunteer brigades. The firies are also to get some new toys (as we reported earlier) which have some quite spectacular names – Aerial Fire Fighting Appliance (I think this may be the thing that can reach up 15-storey buildings from the other day), Heavy Fire Rescue Pump, Super Heavy Tanker and a Lighting Tower Vehicle. Two new Intensive Care Ambulances will also be purchased. The new emergency services headquarters and its associated training facilities in Fairbairn are expected to be completed by the middle of next year. Also $320,000 has been set aside to buy new protective clothing for emergency service staff and volunteers.
Interestingly, money is allocated for lots more CCTV cameras. 340 buses will be retrofitted with cameras (in addition to 50 which already have them). Also an extra 15 fixed cameras will be installed at the Jolimont Centres, Canberra Stadium, Manuka Oval and EPIC, bringing the system to a total of 30 cameras. There is also funding for a dedicated facility to receive the feeds of these 30 cameras to be built at the Winchester Police Centre in Belconnen and the maintenance contract for the system will be expanded.
$4.2 million over four years has been allocated for “targeted support for businessesâ€. As far as I can tell, this means providing information and advice, mentoring, developing networks and partnerships and entrepreneurship development (whatever that means). This announcement was accompanied by the usual bullshit about making Canberra a centre of innovation.
More money has been put aside for planning the party of the century (AKA our centenary celebrations).
Arts funding includes money to be used for “greater support of public artâ€. Apparently this includes the creation of new works at the Alexander Maconochie Centre (that’s the jail), the Gungahlin Drive Extension, the Canberra Glassworks, an ACT Memorial and a Ngunnawal artwork for City Walk. $259,000 is allocated for repairs and maintenance of arts facilities and I did wonder if this means replacing and/or restoring the existing public art that we have seen on the walking tour series. Also, plans are apparently well-progressed for a Belconnen arts centre on the shores of Lake Ginninderra.
The new Gungahlin suburb of Harrison is next in line for infrastructure spending with money allocated for new roads, a playing field and a combined primary and preschool there.
$500,000 is the amount thought needed to make Civic (sorry, Canberra Central) more lively and enticing to people who might want to live, work or play there. This includes funds for developing a long-term parking strategy, which sounds like a damn good idea.
More money is being thrown at ACTION, quite apart from the installation of CCTV cameras. It seems more bus stops and shelters will be made and the aged ticketing system will be replaced with something slightly more modern.
To fix road safety two more mobile speed cameras will be bought along with two new fixed red light/speed cameras on intersection and four fixed speed cameras to be placed on selected mid-block road sections (I’m thinking Northbourne and Adelaide avenues). This announcement was accompanied by assurances the cameras would only be placed on specific black spot areas and were definitely to improve road safety and not the government’s bank balance.
Municipal Services Minister John Hargreaves also announced funding over the next four years to improve the wheelchair accessible taxi (WAT) fleet. This appears to involve the government continuing to pay a $10 lift fee (I think this is for the taxi driver to load and unload the passenger’s wheelchair) and subsidise the cost of having to micro-manage the WAT fleet so it is more efficient.
Ngunnawal, Bonython, Chisholm and Torrens ovals will be restored after the drought’s desecration, as will part of Kippax and Melba playing fields.
The government is going to spend $10 million each year for the next three years on acquiring new public housing stock. The minister said this would be the equivalent of housing for 100 more families. There was some suggestion that they’re also going to sell some 500 currently held houses, but I couldn’t find where this came from (must have been more down in the nitty gritty that I didn’t get to). I think the answer was that these sales would not offset the cost of buying new properties, and would take place because the stock currently held does not meet what people want (which is mainly two-bedroom apartment-type things, apparently). Check out the Canberra Times tomorrow for more about this because it was their reporter chasing the point.
The government has also allocated more money to keep the Kangaroos AFL team playing three games a year in Canberra. I guess this means there will be another big push for crowd attendance next year.
And the last thing on my list is $750,000 for asbestos removal from government properties and schools.
Loading ...
