27 February 2009

Katy unveils her stimulus

| johnboy
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Treasurer Katy Gallagher has announced details of the Local Initiatives Package – 2008-09 Appropriation Bill No 3.

She says the highlights are:

    Look of our City

    — $1.6 million for Glebe Park pavement replacement.
    — $750,000 of works at Canberra International Arboretum and Gardens including a picnic area, access to Dairy Farmers Hill, entrance works and earthworks.
    — $300,000 for landscaping works at Manuka Arts Centre.
    — $500,000 for footpath improvements.

    Health and safety

    — $395,000 for the expansion of Oncology Clinics and Cancer Services facilities.
    — $495,000 for upgrades to The Canberra Hospital pharmacy cool room and for various other safety related upgrades.
    — $400,000 for road safety messages signage.
    — $1 million for the upgrade of Emergency Services Agency facilities.

    Education

    — $3.2 million for asbestos removal across various schools.
    — $2.4 million for the replacement of stormwater and sewer pipes.
    — $2 million for roof access systems.
    — Almost $2.7 million for facilities and amenity upgrades and implementation of stormwater and bore water reticulation at the Canberra Institute of Technology.

    Community Services

    — $2.5 million for a Homelessness Initiative to provide 10 blocks of land, which will allow for construction of dwellings to be fast tracked during 2009-10.
    — $1.165 millions for upgrades, renovations and refurbishments to community and childcare facilities.
    — $900,000 for energy efficiency improvements in community and childcare facilities;
    — $435,000 for design works to provide for additional childcare places.

In reply Brendan Smyth is dismissive:

    Ms Gallagher is absolutely clueless as Treasurer. At a time when the Canberra community and, in particular, the business sector is looking for guidance about how to respond to the global economic meltdown, all we are getting from this Treasurer is back peddling and useless waffle

Brendan would like more “strategic direction”, also a vast new industry plonked down to employ people. And making it easier to start businesses. (Brendan should try starting a business, the ACT side of it is really very simple and pleasant).

The ABC reports the Greens (who rarely publish their thoughts) are at best “luke-warm” about the package.

UPDATED: Brendan Smyth is peddling the idea that Andrew Barr’s response to the package implies lack of confidence and possibly leadership grumbles.

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“– $400,000 for road safety messages signage.”

This sort of nonsense is exactly the reason I have have put Labor last at the last 2 ACT elections. WASTE WASTE WASTE

Not only is this an utter waste of our money it is detremental to our city. There is already an overload of ugly signage on our roads. This sort of signage is just a form of advertising and is therefore not taken seriously by motorists. The problem then arises over time that motorists don’t distunguish between advertising signage and “real” signage and they don’t take any road signs seriously.

The types that blatently flaunt the road safety message are not the type that are going to take any notice of a road sign advertising road safety.

Basic stuff Katy!!!! Perhaps you should take some advice on this.

Or we could dig a tunnel from Tantangara Dam to the Canberra water system, and get our water from Snowy Hydro. Of course we would have to pay, but for good quality drinking water, we wouldn’t have any problem out bidding the MIA farmers. Most of the water going that way is lost to leakage or evaporation anyway.

VYBerlinaV8_the_one_they_all_copy8:12 pm 27 Feb 09

Why not use the 400k to put another cop car or 2 and some cops to drive it on the street. Get thyem to start booking all the idiots that tailgate, fail to indicate and lane hog. That would contribute a lot more to road safety than yet more gimmicky signs to distract us.

Yes, that was my point. People need water and the Tennent should have been built years ago. It’s an essential infrastructure project to safeguard an essential resource for the people of Canberra. It would have been smart to build it when the economy was booming, but Cth grants are currently available so there’s no time like the present.

(I still think it’s daft to expand the Cotter, but doing so does not exclude the need for the dam we needed 20 years ago).

Caf, I’ve read Water2WATER and have never heard such a load of liquified sh!t in my life.

I want the Tennent Dam as well as the Cotter Dam before anyone thinks of a water2WATER plant to produce water from sewerage. On cost and environmental considerations alone. Don’t let the Franklin fixated greenies win. I want water with my water waiter.

The Cotter Dam solution is definitely the most sensible.

Get with the program, we’re getting a new Cotter Dam instead. If you bothered to read the Future Water Options papers which have been out for years you’d know why, too.

Because we are frequently using so much damn water from cotter dam that we need to make it bigger?

Get with the program, we’re getting a new Cotter Dam instead. If you bothered to read the Future Water Options papers which have been out for years you’d know why, too.

Where’s the Tennent Dam?

Now it seems that $400000 is not for road safety signs but to identify places when road safety signs might be used?

Then we could have a sin troika ‘porn, fireworks, drugs’.

Actually, I think Canberra is already know for this, pot-wise anyway.

Be nice if the tourism department could include it in their ads though…

amarooresident212:11 pm 27 Feb 09

jakez said :

amarooresident2 said :

Jeez Brendan Smyth is a tool. For as long as I can remember he’s trotted out the “diversy Canberra’s economic base” line but I can’t remember a single suggestion from him about how you might do that.

Oh wait, more tourists. He’s quite fond of saying that.

He should advocate for the complete legalisation of every single drug known to man. Then we could have a sin troika ‘porn, fireworks, drugs’.

…no?

Heh, why not. I notice California is having that debate right now, at least in relation to marijuana.

amarooresident2 said :

Jeez Brendan Smyth is a tool. For as long as I can remember he’s trotted out the “diversy Canberra’s economic base” line but I can’t remember a single suggestion from him about how you might do that.

Oh wait, more tourists. He’s quite fond of saying that.

He should advocate for the complete legalisation of every single drug known to man. Then we could have a sin troika ‘porn, fireworks, drugs’.

…no?

amarooresident211:55 am 27 Feb 09

Jeez Brendan Smyth is a tool. For as long as I can remember he’s trotted out the “diversy Canberra’s economic base” line but I can’t remember a single suggestion from him about how you might do that.

Oh wait, more tourists. He’s quite fond of saying that.

caf said :

It’s mostly bringing forward spending that was to have been done in future years, which is why things like the roof access systems were already being planned for. Stuff that’s already in the pipeline is quicker to get moving than stuff which has to go through planning from step 1.

Personally I hope the Stanhope Government does play switcheroo so that the stimulus money isn’t automatically added to any capital works budget. Bringing forward already budgeted capital works, and rebudgeting is probably the best possible use of what was really quite a dog of a federal package.

(Before anyone plays the partisan card, I would gladly admit that there are many Coalition examples of hastily drawn up policies/legislation with poor results).

Stuff that’s already in the pipeline is quicker to get moving than stuff which has to go through planning from step 1.

Because we all know how long it takes the Gubmint to organise something badly.

This is my biggest problem with the Federal Gov’s “stimulus” package. If there were plans for more infrastructure projects on the go, it would have been easier to fund them, but no government will plan for something they can’t afford. Apart from the fact it sounds silly, they are afraid someone will make them build it anyway.

It’s mostly bringing forward spending that was to have been done in future years, which is why things like the roof access systems were already being planned for. Stuff that’s already in the pipeline is quicker to get moving than stuff which has to go through planning from step 1.

Aeek said :

Master Builders and the Chamber of Commerce seem to like it.

They never saw a bucket of money supporting their lunches they didn’t like.

Keynes once famously said that you could spend the money having people dig holes and then filling them in and you would get the same addition to demand.

It seems that the Stanhope Government has taken his words to heart on some of these initiatives.

The Greens could always take a leaf out of Nick Xenephon’s book and take a stand for the things they say they support, even if it were at the risk of upsetting their agreement buddy.

Master Builders and the Chamber of Commerce seem to like it.

Tough crowd!

*chuckle*

And the government is selling itself 10 blocks of land for 2.5 million!

Mr Evil said :

Pommy bastard said :

– $2 million for roof access systems.

I’ll refrain…

Is that so drunken idiots can climb up onto school roofs, and then fall off and kill themselves at 4am?

This is not new. A number of schools have already had access systems installed for OH&S requirements. Work that would have to be been done anyway and was probably budgeted for. Now it’s part of a stimulus package. Just too cynical. Why am I surprised?

Do we make road signs in Canberra?

400K for road signs that we don’t need? How in Gods name is that part of a stimulus package? I hoped the Greens would rein in this nonsense but that was a hope in vain once they got ensconced in their plush offices – just another set of fat cat Pollies.

EPIC FAIL

wooo $400k for more “drive and text n u b nxt” signs, that made me want to immediately go out and spend more money..

$750k to cover the budget blow out from the arboretum

$435k to draw some pictures of some child care places

$1.6 mil for budget blowout in doing up glebe park.

there’s less stimulation there than there is watching sbs late at night

Childcare is a massive problem. I’m considering posting about it. If you also have issues with childcare, particularly in Gungahlin, I’d be really interested to hear from you about it @ granny1963@gmail.com.

As it’s a Stimulus Package, I suggest that one of those gold-plated, diamond-encrusted roadsigns be set aside for the message:

SPEND MORE
U BASTARDS

Where is this identified as a stimulus package? The Bill is called ‘Local Initiatives Package – 2008-09 Appropriations Bill No.3’ Given how popular initiatives to save we guilty consumers and domestic credit abusers from the unfortunate but completely innocent errors of hapless American financial geniuses, surely it would have been more clearly identified if it was?

Gungahlin Al6:26 pm 26 Feb 09

Unfortunately the planned new childcare centres do not include building the one already allowed for next to Harrison School.

This is a real opportunity lost.

ACT Government research last year found that Gungahlin only has 0.16 childcare places available for each child under 5yo (yes – just 16%!), versus around 0.9 places in the inner north.

Clearly this means that instead of having a single drop-off for kids that are spread over childcare and primary, and being able to catch one of those almost empty buses going past, Harrison and Franklin residents are forced to drive their kids to centres further in. They then drive on into town, therby reducing potential bus patronage and increasing traffic and parking issues.

In addition, the undersupply of childcare places in Canberra in general puts the market power with the operators. They can then get away with behaviour they wouldn’t dare try if there was competition for customers, instead of competition for places.

cranky said :

‘– $400,000 for road safety messages signage.’

But no contribution to the mobile humidicrib we are being asked to donate to.

Can you see the public willingly coughing up for more road safety messages? This way they get both for the price of one.

‘– $400,000 for road safety messages signage.’

But no contribution to the mobile humidicrib we are being asked to donate to.

Pommy bastard said :

– $2 million for roof access systems.

I’ll refrain…

Is that so drunken idiots can climb up onto school roofs, and then fall off and kill themselves at 4am?

The additional childcare places are desperately needed. And the asbestos removal. I’m horrified to learn that there could still be asbestos in any school.

Pommy bastard5:59 pm 26 Feb 09

– $2 million for roof access systems.

I’ll refrain…

Is it me, or is Glebe Park always the victim of these plans?

– $400,000 for road safety messages signage.

Or they could get a bulk rate and buy new brake pads for every car in Canberra.

Hardly seems focused on “stimulating” much, unless you’re in landscaping or earth works.

– $400,000 for road safety messages signage.

Whoopee.

(I actually wanted to post the exasperated groan I made as I read it, but couldn’t decide on the spelling.)

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