Chief Minister Andrew Barr is pleased with the progress his government has made so far in the first year since ACT Labor was re-elected to serve Canberrans. Photo: ACT Government.
Canberrans should start seeing just how the ACT Government plans to reform the justice system and further boost the Territory’s social and public housing as it heads into its second year of this term.
Sunday (19 October) marked one year since ACT Labor once again took the reins of the Territory, and Chief Minister Andrew Barr told Region he was pleased with the progress made in the past 12 months.
“This year we’ve had some pretty significant machinery of government changes, so the creation of the City and Environment directorate, the merger of Health and Community Services, and the creation of the Digital Canberra Directorate, [plus there are] three new ministers and two new MLAs,” he said.
“There’s been quite a bit of work behind the scenes around embedding those changes and processes, and so it’s not unsurprising … that has taken a reasonable amount of time.”
The past 12 months has seen progress on reshaping the heart of Canberra, with the final touches being placed on the Raising London Circuit project, the works approval lodged for the new Lyric Theatre, construction almost ready to begin to create a new lakeside destination at the Acton Waterfront, the start of work imminent on a new UNSW Canberra campus and consultation currently open on the proposed Canberra Aquatic Centre in Commonwealth Park, which will also support the future Convention Centre and Entertainment Precinct.
All of this government work (on top of private development occurring at the same time) has been met with some pain, as Civic businesses have continually raised concerns that construction — particularly for the next stage of light rail — is impacting their bottom line.
Mr Barr said the work had been “disruptive” but it would have a “lasting and long-term legacy for Canberra”.
“Many of those projects are at peak disruption now and things will start to ease through 2026 and into 2027,” he said.
“There has been some further challenges … where the impact, particularly of the light rail construction, has been the most acute, but when we look at, even the medium term, the infrastructure that’s being built will be a particular driver of demand and activity in the City centre.”
Mr Barr said it was particularly important to have this work done now as the Federal Government continued to move more of its agencies and people into the newer buildings in Barton.
“There will be a challenge over the next few years around how to reuse or redevelop some of the very large Commonwealth office buildings that were built in the ’80s and ’90s,” he said.
“So thinking about that challenge, and what might drive demand in the city for both commercial and residential opportunity in the next five years, has been at the forefront of the government’s thinking.”
Given the pressures on the ACT’s budget and its bottom line, Region asked Mr Barr whether it was wise to have so many projects in progress at once, particularly when others started being factored in, such as the planned $1 billion new Northside Hospital, Monaro Highway and Molonglo Bridge upgrades, and run-of-the-mill projects such as more parks and playgrounds, upgraded community facilities, active travel infrastructure, and improved roads and public transport connections.
Mr Barr said it was a balancing act between maintaining a steady pipeline of construction work to attract and keep companies and workers in the Territory alongside deciding whether delivering a project now (which helps the short-term balance sheet) would result in increased costs down the track.
“There is a lively debate, as you would expect, about which [projects] should come first, and that’s fair enough … [and then] there can be criticism that we take too long to build certain things,” he said.
“We are doing exactly what we said we would do. We went to an election, multiple elections on this, so it’s not like we’ve suddenly dreamt up projects that no one’s ever heard about or have ever been talked about before.”
Having a Federal Labor Government ready to invest has also helped push many of these projects along.
The next few months will still have more of a budget-centric focus, but Canberrans should expect a great deal of new legislation to start being introduced for debate in the Legislative Assembly.
Mr Barr hinted one would help streamline the delivery of public and social housing, and another would relate to operations of the justice system and sentencing.
The government also wants to progress large-scale battery storage projects in the Territory, and increase student accommodation to support Canberra’s higher education providers in attracting more local and international students.
“I think we can expect the productivity and output associated with the parliamentary process picking up pace through 2026 and 2027.”
